Michelle Obama: Gun violence has children fearing death every day

First lady Michelle Obama said that students at a high school just five miles from her family’s Chicago home told her that “every day they wake up and wonder whether they’re going to make it out of school alive.”

In an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” that will air this weekend, the first lady said that when she met students after delivering a speech last month on gun violence, she was struck by the extent to which fear dominated the children’s everyday lives.

{mosads}“I mean, every single kid worries about their own death, or the death of someone, every single day,” Obama said.

The first lady traveled to her hometown to advocate for new gun controls ahead of the Senate’s vote last month on a bill that would expand background checks on gun purchases. The vote fell five senators short of the 60 needed.

In the interview with CBS, Obama said that lawmakers have an “obligation to these kids” to try again.

“We have millions of kids living in these kinds of circumstances who are doing everything right,” Obama said. “And we, as a nation, have to embrace these kids and let them know that we hear them, and see them. One kid told me he felt like he lived in a cage, because he feels like his community is unseen, unheard and nobody cares about it.”

Speaking in Mexico on Friday, President Obama said gun control would save lives on both sides of the border.

“Most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States,” Obama said. “I think many of you know that in America, our Constitution guarantees our individual right to bear arms. And as president, I swore an oath to uphold that right, and I always will.”

“At the same time,” Obama continued, “as I’ve said in the United States, I will continue to do everything in my power to pass common-sense reforms that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people. That can save lives here in Mexico and back home in the United States. It’s the right thing to do.”