The United States is grappling with another school shooting, the 45th this year. A 26 year old gunman murdered and killed as many as 10 people and injured several others at a community college in Oregon before he was shot dead.
The gunman was identified as Chris Harper Mercer, who lived near Umpqua college in the rural town of Roseburg.
Investigators were focusing on reports from survivors that Mercer told students to state their religion before opening fire on them. It is also believed that hours before the attack he posted messages on an internet chat site warning people to stay away from school.
United States President, Barack Obama, has expressed his anger and sadness over the killings and has also acknowledged his government’s powerlessness to prevent such shootouts.
Expressing concern over the increasing gun massacres at the press briefing after the incident, Obama said, “Those of us who are lucky enough to hug our kids a little closer are thinking about the families who aren’t so fortunate.”
“I’d ask the American people to think about how they can get our government to change these laws, and to save these lives and let these people grow up, he added.”
The President took a swipe at the National Rifle Association, which has successfully most limits on gun usage and manufacturing.
This is not the first time that Mr. Obama has expressed serious concerns over gun laws and the requisite amendments needed to make the country a safer place to live. After the massacre in 2012, when 20 children were killed in a school in Newton, Obama had offered a proposal to overhaul the nation’s gun laws that would have included background checks and a spate of other concrete measures aimed at preventing mass shootings.
With each massacre, his anger and frustration has seemingly been more evident for not been able to prevent these untowardly incidents. But what is different this time is that the President did not announce any new efforts or guidelines to fix this problem. Instead, he has strongly pointed out that there is a gun roughly for every man, woman and child in America and there is no guarantee that more guns will make the citizens safer. He also rejected the idea that the Constitution forbids modest regulations of deadly weapons like guns.
His strong appeal to make ‘gun safety’ a priority does not only highlight his concerns for the nation as a President but also underlines his emotional side of him being a father-the one who wants to hug his daughters every day and ensure that they are in safe hands always.