Obama Dedicates Weekly Address to Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting Victims, Calls For "Meaningful Action"

President Obama dedicated his weekly address to the victims of the school shooting in Newtoen, Conn. at Sandy Hook Elementary on Friday.

He reiterated many of the same themes he initially touched on in a press conference yesterday afternoon.

"Our hearts are broken today," he said. "We grieve for the families of those we lost. And we keep in our prayers the parents of those who survived.  Because as blessed as they are to have their children home, they know that their child's innocence has been torn away far too early."

In total, 28 people died, including the gunman. Adam Lanza, a local 20-year-old, killed his mother in their home, then drove to the school where she worked, forced his way through the doors, and killed 20 children and 6 adults with two semiautomatic pistols before turning the guns on himself.

"As a nation, we have endured far too many of these tragedies in the last few years," said Obama. "An elementary school in Newtown. A shopping mall in Oregon. A house of worship in Wisconsin. A movie theater in Colorado. Countless street corners in places like Chicago and Philadelphia."

Friday's shooting is the second worst school shooting in American history, and the worst at a primary or secondary school. In 2007, a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech before killing himself.

In 1999, two high school students infamously killed 19 students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Co.

This is the eighth mass shooting this year, including the Aurora theater shootings in july in which 12 people died, an attack at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin in August which left six people dead, and a shopping mall shooting just three days before the Sandy Hook tragedy, in which two random shoppers were killed.

"We have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this. Regardless of the politics," said Obama, echoing his statements on Friday.

The president has of yet made no indications of what kind of action he hopes to take. Progressive lawmakers are calling for stricter gun control laws and more adequate mental health screening.

However, gun control has long been a topic anathema to politicians, who fear the sway of the National Rifle Association, a powerful pro-gun lobbying group with 4.3 million active and vocal members.