Obama is set to meet with the families of the eight students and one instructor gunned down at Umpqua Community College last Thursday by a gunman, Christopher Harper-Mercer, who then took his own life. Karlinsky highlighted that “the President found himself in hostile territory during a visit he said was all about consoling victims…Gun rights supporters, many of them openly armed, gathered by the hundreds, angry that Obama made a gun control plea to the nation just hours after nine were murdered here”.
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Protesters held signs saying “Go back to Kenya” and “Don’t tread on me” as Barack Obama left the Oregon airport Friday.
Obama was meeting privately with family members at Roseburg High School. Students will return to class at Umpqua Community College next week. “There are going to be moments as we go forward where we’re going to have to come together and figure out how do we stop things like this from happening”, he said.
Protesters, many of whom argued the president was politicizing the tragedy by visiting Roseburg, began gathering near the airport three hours before Obama’s arrival. Beth Schoenbach, an aide to DeFazio, said he talked with Obama about ensuring that the college won’t lose the ability to provide federally backed financial aid to students.
EDWARD FLYNN: Our bad guys with guns learn nothing ’cause the laws are so weak, and we want help. “He is coming as President Obama and is speaking for our entire nation and show his care and affection and concern for the people of Roseburg”, Piercy said.
“It can not be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun”, he said.
The community had been reeling in shock, he said. A few residents in this conservative timber town about 180 miles south of Portland accuse him of using the October 1 rampage to justify gun control. After 20 children and six adults were killed in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Hanlin sent Vice President Joe Biden a letter saying he would never comply with any gun-control law from the Obama administration.
The alleged shooter, named by police as 18-year-old freshman Steven Jones, was taken into custody and did not attempt to escape arrest.
“Everybody should carry a gun”.
“There’s been another mass shooting in America – this time, in a community college in Oregon”, he said. One local pastor even suggested more guns were the answer. Just as we learn the President is exploring the use of executive authority to close gun loopholes.
“I’m here to tell Obama he is not welcome in our county”.
But Ana Boylan told The Associated Press she would indeed meet Obama if she has a chance to do so in private.
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Laurie Nielsen, 55, is among those who think Obama should stay away.
