(FOX'S ED HENRY) The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School Friday affected people in an emotional way, but the long term affect could be even more profound. Today's shooting is sparking a call for change in gun laws.

"The majority of those who died were children, beautiful little kids between 5-10 years old," says President Obama.

President Obama struggling to keep his composure, the grief of an entire nation visible in the tears he tried, and failed to suppress.

"They had their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations, weddings," says President Obama.

Earlier, the President spoke to Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy as well as FBI Director Robert Mueller, whose agency is coordinating the investigation with state and local authorities.

"I offer Malloy condolences on behalf of the nation, made clear he'll have every resource he needs to investigate the crime, care for the victims, counsel the families," says President Obama. "We've endured too many tragedies in the past few years."

The partisan bickering suddenly seemed ever less important. The deliberations over that looming fiscal cliff interrupted. The President has received many emergency updates over the last 4 years, from a Congresswoman shot at a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona to an Aurora, Colorado movie theater this summer, 12 dead.

"Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing," says President Obama.

Yet later that same month the President faced criticism from liberals for a speech to the National Urban League, where he talked about violence but very carefully danced around the issue of gun control, and offered no specific plans for follow through.

"What I said in wake of Tucson is we were going to stay on this persistently," says President Obama.

Today in the White House briefing room, a dramatic shift: a specific promise of action in his 2nd term.

"These neighborhoods are our neighborhoods," says President Obama. "Children are our children. We have to come together to take meaningful action regardless of politics."

For now, the President has ordered flags be flown at half staff at military posts, public buildings and grounds, including the White House, where there's grieving too.

"This evening, Michelle and I will hug our children tighter, and tell them we love them," says President Obama.

Captain Mark Kelly, husband of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, said today she sends her prayers from Tucson. He added that a meaningful discussion about the nation's gun laws "can no longer wait".
Tragedy Could Affect New Talk About Gun Laws