(PTI)

US President Barack Obama today remembered the victims of several tragic shootouts in the country, including that of Oak Tree Gurudwara, seeking tougher gun control laws to prevent such incidents.

"The families of Newtown deserve a vote. The families of Aurora deserve a vote. The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence – they deserve a simple vote," Obama said referring to the series of shootouts in various places across the country in the last one year.

It has been two months since Newtown, Obama said referring to the shootout in a school that killed 20 children.

"I know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. But this time is different," he said.

First Lady Michelle had invited police officer Brian Murphy, the hero of the Oak Tree shootout where six Sikh worshippers were killed, for Obama's first State of the Union Address in his second innings at the White House.

"We should follow the example of a police officer named Brian Murphy. When a gunman opened fire on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and Brian was the first to arrive, he did not consider his own safety. He fought back until help arrived, and ordered his fellow officers to protect the safety of the Americans worshiping inside – even as he lay bleeding from twelve bullet wounds," Obama said.

"When asked how he did that, Brian said, 'That's just the way we're made'. We may do different jobs, and wear different uniforms, and hold different views than the person beside us. But as Americans, we all share the same proud title: We are citizens. It's a word that doesn't just describe our nationality or legal status. It describes the way we're made," Obama said.