President Obama has urged the United States to "come to grips" the an epidemic of gun violence.
He was speaking after a mass shooting at an historic African-American in South Carolina, where nine people died on Wednesday night.
The only suspect in the case, 21 year old Dylan Roff, was apprehended by police in neighboring North Carolina several hours after he allegedly interrupted a bible study class and started shooting.
Our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks says the events of the past 24 hours have shocked the country.
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Barack Obama walked into the White House briefing room just one hour after police in North Carolina arrested Dylan Roff - the only suspect in the church massacre.
CBS News correspondent Mark Knoller, who informally keep records of White House activities, clocked this as the 14th time the President has had to react to another incident of gun violence since he first entered the White House 6 years ago.
And President Obama told reporters, enough is enough.
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The President said he recognizes the political realities that exist in Washington, and make it so difficult for any kind of meaningful gun control to be introduced.
He'd sounded this frustrated two years ago, after 20 children were fatally shot by deranged gunman Adam Lanza in Newtown, Connecticut.
But this time, President Obama said, the loss in South Carolina was personal.
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The black community in Charlestown is reeling from the news of the shooting.
It took the lives of 6 women and 3 men….including a second priest at the church who was also a speech therapist….along with an 87 year old woman, and a young man at the start of his life who had just graduated from college.
Community leaders held prayer meetings on the streets of Charleston all day long….urging God to explain the reasons for permitting the attack….but also urging politicians to act to prevent another one.
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South Carolinians of all backgrounds joined the mourning.
Governor Nikki Hayley, a conservative Republican in a state where the Civil War-era confederate flag still flies above the Capitol, broke down as she spoke to reporters.
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The investigation is now underway into Dylan Roff…his background, and his motivation for the merciless attack.
In one archival picture he can be seen wearing a jacket emblazoned with the flags of apartheid era South Africa, and white minority-ruled Rhodesia….adding to the Department of Justice claim that this was a hate crime.
Civil rights leader the Reverend Al Sharpton is in South Carolina.
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Dylan Roff had brushed with the law before….arrested once on a drugs charge, a second time for trespassing.
Some say he was troubled and withdrawn…others point to Facebook, where he'd been friended by many African Americans.
He was given a gun for his birthday earlier this year…it's not known whether that was the weapon used in Wednesday's attack.
The sole survivor says in the middle of a bible class he simply stood up, accused black Americans of "taking over the country", and - before firing - said "that is why you've got to go".
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