When mass shooter Chris Mercer took the lives of nine fellow students at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, he forever changed the to the town. Mercer wounded nine more students before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide.
President Barack Obama addressed the nation that day calling for a renewed push in gun control. Obama stated that the frequency of mass shootings in America has become too ‘frequent” and “routine.” He directly challenged gun control opponents to a political fight over laws and legislation. President Obama appealed to the common sense of voters to push their representatives at local, state and federal levels for sensible revision of gun control laws.
President Obama plans to visit the small town of Roseberg to host a private meeting with some of the victims’ families this Friday. Unfortunately, his planned meeting is causing outrage in the community because of their stance on gun owners‘ rights. Some view the private visit as political grandstanding to capitalize on the tragedy. From the county sheriff to the town newspaper, there is an irrational outrage to the presidential visit.
David Jaques, publisher of the Roseburg Beacon, stated during one media interview, “His visit here isn’t a re-election campaign stop, but it is a campaign stop for an agenda that he and his associates believe is important . . . and that is to take away Americans’ right to own firearms. … It shows not only a total disdain, a disregard for the Constitution, but our very citizens, especially those of us right here in Douglas County.“ He doubled down on his asinine words in a separate media interview by stating that Obama wants to “…stand on the corpses of our loved ones and make some kind of political point.”
Unfortunately, these same fears over gun owners’ rights have many thinking the government seeks to seize their weapons. Even the county sheriff, John Hanlin, is quoted by media outlet Yahoo News as having said that the government staged the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting to “disarm the public.”
Sheriff Hanlin also wrote to Vice President Joe Biden his views and stance on gun control twice: once after the Newton mass shooting, then after 2013 Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting, Hanlin wrote that “Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings.” Additionally, in the 2013 letter, Hanlin felt that any action taken by the current congress or President Obama on mass shootings would be unconstitutional and as such “any federal regulation enacted by Congress or by the executive order of the president …shall not be enforced by me or by my deputies.”
This sentiment is echoed throughout the town of 22K, as businesses post signs supporting gun rights and Sheriff Hanlin. Jeff Ackerman, editor and publisher of the Roseburg News-Review, stated “If he’s going to stand on Main Street and talk about gun control … that’s not going to go too well in Roseburg or Douglas County.”
