Remembering Barack Obama's point about gun control that shames America

Following the Charleston church shooting in June in which nine people were murdered, Barack Obama made a very clear point about gun control in the US.

In the wake of the death of two journalists - Alison Parker and Adam Ward - who were shot dead in a live broadcast on Wednesday morning, his words seem as timely as ever.

The president pointed out that Americans kill each other with guns 297 times more than Japan, 49 times more than France and 33 times more than Israel. In fact, per capita, Americans kill more people than any other developed nation on Earth.

“Expressions of sympathy aren’t enough,” he added. “It’s time we do something about this”.

While Obama did not cite which statistics he was using, he is correct that gun violence is worse in America than in many other developed countries.

A 2013 study by two New York based cardiologists which examined rates of firearm deaths in 27 developed countries using World Health Organisation data from 2010 found the US had the highest rate of gun deaths.

Obama also raised the issue at the annual US Conference of Mayors in June, where he pointed out that 11,000 Americans were killed by gun violence in 2013.

Eleven thousand. If Congress had passed some common sense legislation after Newtown, after a group of children had been gunned down in their own classroom, reforms that 90 per cent of the American people supported... we might still have more Americans with us. We might have stopped one shooter. Some families might still be home.

He vowed not to stop fighting for tighter gun control laws, adding: "I have faith that we will eventually do the right thing."

More: Instead of shocking video footage, here's how we should remember the two journalists shot on camera