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"It's good to be home," President Obama said to a crowd, including uniformed high school students, at Chicago's Hyde Park Academy on Friday.

It was in that same neighborhood where the Obamas raised their children, but the topic of the president's visit was raising Chicago's children — and the nation's. The president returned to his hometown to address the scourge of gun violence that's plaguing the city and many other parts of the country.

Earlier in the day, the Obama presided over an awards ceremony at the White House. Six of the citations, read by a military aide, were for the principal and teachers killed in December at Sandy Hook elementary school.

"Some had been at Sandy Hook Elementary School for only weeks," the president said. "Others were preparing to retire after decades of service. All worked long past the school bell to give the children in their care a future worth their talents."

While the massacre at the school in Newtown, Conn. put the issue of gun violence back in the spotlight, the president has also tried to draw attention to the killings that don't make the headlines. He noted that Chicago had 443 firearm murders last year; 5 of the victims were 18 or younger.

"So that's the equivalent of a Newtown every four months," he said, "and that's precisely why the overwhelming majority of Americans are asking for some common-sense proposals to make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun."

The White House is pushing for universal background checks and other measures. But speaking in the South Side neighborhood where a 15-year-old was shot to death just days after she marched in his inaugural parade, Obama seemed more focused on the social climate where that kind of violence has become a daily occurrence.

"When a child opens fire on another child, there's a hole in that child's heart that government can't fill. Only community and parents and teachers and clergy can fill that hole," he said.

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