Obama voices anger over Oregon shooting, urges gun control

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Washington (AFP) – United States President Barack Obama voiced his anger and sadness after the country’s latest deadly shooting, this time at an Oregon community college, and made another impassioned plea for gun control legislation.
“There has been another mass shooting in America,” a stony-faced Obama said in reaction to the shooting by a male gunman at Umpqua Community College in rural Roseburg, which left 10 people dead.
“Somehow this has become routine,” said the president. “We become numb to this.”
“The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine,” said the president, making his 15th statement on a mass shooting since taking office in 2009.
“And what’s become routine, of course, is the response of those who oppose any kind of common sense gun legislation.”
Obama reiterated his frustration at the failure of the Republican-controlled Congress to back new gun control measures, and threw down the gauntlet to lawmakers.
“Prayers are not enough,” he said. “We can actually do something about it, but we’re going to have to change our laws.”
“This is a political choice we make,” Obama said. “This is not something I can do myself. I have to have a Congress and state legislatures and governors who are willing to work with me on this.”
“It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun.”
– ‘It doesn’t make sense’ –
Police officers search Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, after a shooting on October 1, 2015 (AFP Photo/Michael Sullivan)
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Source:: PM Newspaper