Obama voices anger over Oregon shooting, urges gun control

School shootings are a disturbing reality of American life and many facilities have reinforced security in recent years, especially in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre in 2012 that left 20 students and six adults dead.

This latest shooting was proof positive the National Rifle Association has paralysed good thinking and policy in the U.S., he 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”, Obama said.

He discussed the feelings and the empathy onlookers will express, the process of learning about the victims – who they were and wanted to be – and the political discourse that ultimately leads nowhere.

The gunman was said to be a 20-year-old male who started the carnage at the community college campus in rural Oregon before having an exchange of fire with police.

“We are the only advanced country on Earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months”, Obama said from the White House briefing room, his voice rising in frustration. There have been more than a dozen mass shootings in America since he took office. ‘The reporting has become routine.

Acting opposition leader Tanya Plibersek said Australians do not forget Mr Howard’s “courageous and successful efforts on gun control”.

Obama said there is a gun for roughly every man, woman and child in the USA, and he argued that tighter restrictions in a few US cities and states and other countries have proved effective.

“Each time this happens I’m going to bring this up”, Obama said. “And what becomes routine is the response from those who oppose any sort of gun control legislation”. But based on my experience as president, I can’t guarantee that, and that’s awful to say, and it can change. “It is relevant to our common life together”.

In the hours to come, we will learn about the shooter, what type of weapon he used and how he got it. However, we do know that this is a reflection of our nation’s inability to address our raging gun violence epidemic. “If you look at the jurisdictions that have really strict gun control laws, they consistently have among the highest crime rates”. Krauthammer asked. “We don’t know whether it is or not and to make a pronouncement at this time when – I hate to say it, the bodies are still warm and the wounded are now in surgery – I think is at least premature”.

On behalf of all New Yorkers, I offer my honest and heartfelt condolences to everyone who has been impacted by today’s tragedy.