WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) — Like he has done multiple times before, President Barack Obama on Thursday expressed sorrow and frustration about the deadly shooting rampage that struck a small community college in Oregon.
From the White House, Obama remarked on the massacre that reportedly left at least 13 people dead and many others wounded Thursday morning.
“Each time this happens I am going to bring this up. We can do something about it,” he said. “But we are going to have to change our laws. And this isn’t something I can do my myself.”
Obama’s demeanor was one that expressed sadness and a growing frustration over what he views as an ongoing problem that has yet to be met by a solution.
After previous mass shootings, like the one in Newtown, Mass., in December 2012 that left 20 children dead, Obama has stressed the importance of gun control in the United States.
“I hope and pray I don’t have to come out again during my tenure as president to offer condolences to the families in these circumstances,” he said. “But based on my experience as president, I can’t expect that. And that’s terrible to say.”
Obama said lawmakers need to meet situations like these with tougher firearms laws — an issue long debated between Democrats and Republicans over the years.
Authorities said earlier that a 20-year-old man opened fire in a science building on the campus of Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore., which is located about 180 miles south of Portland, before he was confronted by police and killed.
“May God bless the memory of those who were killed today,” Obama added. “May He give us the strength to come together and find the courage to change.”
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