Leslie Corp holds up an American flag and the Gadsden flag while… Democrats are pitching the formation of a special committee to investigate gun violence, similar to panels the GOP-led House established to investigate Planned Parenthood and the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans.
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As Roseburg buries its dead, it’s also trying to heal. “In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy campaigned here – the senator heckled as he pushed for tougher gun laws”. That didn’t stop Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie from calling the trip’s objective “obscene”. At least one person was wearing a sidearm. And here’s John Blackstone.
But reports suggest that gun supporters even carried weapons to a community “school safety” meeting to discuss the issue. Alan Montgomery made no attempt to hide his holsters.
He will not be the first national leader to confront resistance to gun control in Roseburg.
A Facebook page called “Defend Roseburg – Deny Barack Obama” outlined plans for a protest at 11 a.m.in advance of the president’s early afternoon arrival. The White House adjusted his schedule to add the Roseburg stop.
The president has never been popular in this corner of southern Oregon. Marketers often advertise guns by stoking the belief that confronting criminals is a common part of everyday life, framing guns as ideal playthings for children or promoting them as accessories to the “manly” life, as if they were cigars and sports cars. And others said they were simply there for the shooting victims and the school, considered the center of the community. But today, it’s about the families.
BLACKSTONE (on-camera): And he said to you? And the Governor, obviously, is paying a lot of attention to how we can be most helpful to the families. Drivers trying to leave a Home Depot were held up by the motorcade.
“I would say that we are still healing and a lot of us are still in shock”.
A single unarmed security guard was on patrol the day of the shooting.
A few of the most poignant moments of Mr Obama’s presidency have occurred in his role as consoler in chief. Most importantly, I want to thank the entire community and the entire state of Oregon for coming together at this awful time to support the families.
President Barack Obama has arrived in Oregon where he will meet privately with family members and surviving victims of last week’s deadly shooting at a community college in Roseburg.
Two people have died after two separate university shootings in Texas and Arizona, just hours apart. Encouragingly, recent research of 615 USA adults by the firm Penn Schoen Berland found that 54 percent of gun owners under the age of 45 would consider swapping their old gun for a smart gun.
“He’s here for a gun grabbing agenda”, one protester told NBC News. It’s clear that he doesn’t respect that. “Our town is in mourning”.
I just had a chance to talk to them. She and her family support the police and the president’s visit, which she described as a “rare privilege” regardless of politics.
The President met with the families for about an hour before leaving. In fact, hundreds protesting the President’s stance on gun control.
Earnest has cited requiring background checks for all firearms purchases at gun shows “as the kind of obvious thing that we believe that Congress should do”.
ABC’s Neal Karlinsky on the very divided reception in Oregon.
“But today it’s about the families”, he said.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE PROTESTER: People are allowed to protect themselves and maybe there’d be less chaos. “He already says he’s going to politicize this – he’s already going to push his agenda”. The confrontation turned physical and one of our students shot the other students.
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Last week, in a 12-minute address to reporters that was broadcast nationally, Obama expressed frustration at the repetition and “routine” of the occurrence of mass gun violence in the United States.
