President Barack Obama urged Americans not to seek a simple explanation for the Arizona shootings and said the country would stand by the victims and grieving relatives who were affected. "Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath," Obama said at a memorial service for the victims. He said the United States must be willing to challenge "old assumptions" in order to prevent future violence, but he urged people not to use the tragedy as an opportunity to assign blame.
"Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, he asked Americans to use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy.