Standing against Obama Visit

To the Grieving Families and Community Members of Roseburg, Oregon:
As a conservative Christian who was horrified by the recent shootings at Umpqua Community College, I extend my sympathy to each of you. I would also like to extend my support to all who are hesitant or definitely against visitation by Barak Obama. Although the supposed intention of the President is to console your families, I believe such a visit will bring more publicity directly or indirectly to unconstitutional legislation and attempts to revoke our 2nd Amendment rights. It is true that the office of the President of the United States DESERVES OUR RESPECT.  However, I personally believe the PERSON filling this prestigious office MUST EARN OUR RESPECT individually . . . Obama clearly has not done so. He has done quite the opposite with unconstitutional executive orders, failure to lead our country on the world front, supporting an agenda that has resulted in endangerment of our law enforcement officers and military, supporting illegal immigration, lying to the public concerning many issues including health care and others too numerous to mention. Therefore, for those in your community who stand as a coalition and refuse to meet with the President, I applaud you. Stand on your principles. More true Americans need to do so. The United States of America is being destroyed piece by piece.

Thank you for your example,
Susan Lovelace
Spokane, Washington

No Obama

Thank you so much for not welcoming and encouraging a visit by the President. He did not even allow for a day before he started on Gun Control. I do hope some of the victims’ families take action against this Gun Free zone. No more people need to be sitting ducks. You have my condolences for what has happened in your town. People, who were nothing like Jesus, liked Jesus; Jesus liked people who were not like Jesus

Bev Kovacs
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

UCC tragedy

As the media discuss the tragedy of our home amongst scholars and contributors, you feel an anger that goes beyond the shooting, its like someone left your door open and everyone is coming in your home and going through your personal belongings. The media stampeded half the local population to get to the gore of their story to share with the country. Don’t act like you care when you don’t. Just leave. Listening to the host on CNN speaking as though she is personally effected by this incident and then blaming what ever is trending for the loss of others. Almost a week later when all the gun control excuses are fading they finally see what we here knew already. It was not the gun laws or the sheriffs management of the county but, It was the parents who allowed this to happen. They knew of his stability issues and they knew and helped provide the guns to the shooter. The father’s interview was stunning as his European accent blames gun laws for the loss of our friends. He did not ask what did I do wrong as a father, no. His feelings of responsibility were not apparent. He must have felt his responsibility of parenting left when he did. As they interviewed him in California I was left with the feeling that this happened in Oregon by a Californian/European. Not blaming a Californian but the difference of cultures we have. Roseburg is not LA. The mother knew of and struggled with the shooters behavior before this occurred. In California it is politically incorrect to point out a person’s issues. They want tolerance and acceptance. We here as a small community respect one another but we do not tolerate abuse or accept it when it happens. Nothing was done by the parents to prevent it. Her love for her son was as lacking as her care of the ones who died because him. The father should accept his failure as a father and as a human being. With all the recent discussions after Sandy Hook of guns and mental health, the actions of the parents are no less criminal than the shooter himself. Obama can take blame as well and as much as anyone else. After Sandy Hook , Obama set into motion policies that may have been meant to do good and slow down the selling of arms across the country but the results were more devastating than anyone could have known. The word went out from the White House that all assault rifles and more were going to be banned. This set into motion the highest level of gun sales ever. All of the idiots that did not have a gun, went and got one because Obama stated he was going to take them away. The demand for assault rifles skyrocketed. The number of companies making guns were quadrupled after his statements. Every machine shop in the country started getting on the train of making firearms. Not bolt action guns but assault rifles that everyone claims to be more dangerous than all others. Now assault rifles are selling for 10 times what they where before Obamas threats. Now more people own assault style rifles than ever due to Obama’s threats. Gun stores and ammo manufacturers are producing more and charging more than ever in history. In the end Obama has done more to profit gun makers and dealers than anyone alive. We will see him ignore his part in this story and take a position above the rest of us. But he is just a responsible as anyone. We don’t need you to come here and say anything. You have done enough. The actions of Sheriff Hanlin from the start of the incident to now have been professional and what the local citizens expected when he was elected. The media reports that he (Sheriff Hanlin) stated in a letter after Obamas remarks after Sandy Hook he was not going to enforce the gun laws that were not within the constitution. The media criticizes him for it, but as they stand in the middle of our county, they forget that this is one of the reasons we elected him. His position and the majority of this county are not the reasons this tragedy occurred. We feel that this incident was brought to us by the political agendas of others, the lack of parenting, and the sensationalizing of murder by the media. The tragedy was enough to deal with, the media can leave now.

Dan Mahnke
Roseburg, Oregon

More laws not answer

A Time to Respond with Reason, Not Emotion
It is easy to respond emotionally to the tragedy in Roseburg but it is also crucial to respond with reason. I have been involved in law enforcement or providing security for high risk individuals for over forty years and there are several undeniable facts that have to be considered. No matter what laws are passed, criminals will always be able to obtain or create firearms. It is impossible to eliminate all firearms owned by the public and ownership is a constitutionally protected right. Criminals are opportunistic and generally cowards, which is why shooters such as this prefer ‘gun free zones’ as they are looked upon as ‘target rich environments’ where they will have little to no resistance to their actions. There have been no attacks of this type that did not occur at a ‘gun free zone’. The issue is not the firearms, it is the perpetrator. The worst school killing in the nation occurred in Michigan in 1927 when the school board treasurer lost the election for town clerk and took out his anger by blowing up the elementary school killing 44 and injuring 58. In almost all cases, there are warning signs given by the perpetrator prior to the act and those warning signs need to be acted upon by those who have knowledge of them and the individual such as postings on social media, activities that the person is involved in, etc. Law enforcement cannot do it alone and additional firearms laws will not solve the problem.

Steve Riley
Eugene, Oregon

Terrorist Attack at UCC

I do not think the killer chose the room randomly where all the carnage occurred. As soon as I learned the instructor, L. Levine, was Jewish I knew in my heart the he chose that room because the teacher was Jewish. There are only several Jewish instructors at UCC as Roseburg has a very small Jewish population. Mercer did not ask Levine “Are you a Christian”. No he shot the man in the head and then in cold blood systematically began killing those Christian students who rather than deny their faith, were willing to die.
It is so painful to imagine the hurt of these parents who sent their sons and daughters to college just three days before to begin a new chapter in their young lives.
I am revolted to have read on the internet that the LA TIMES called Mercer a white Supremacist. He is not white. He has an African mother and a white father. This makes him bi-racial. He was raised by his mother and was living with her in Roseburg these past two years.
Could it be that he is a terrorist with leanings toward Radical Islam, as well as mentally ill? The attack was well planned. Why did the U.S. Army discharge him after only a month? This is a question that needs to be answered.

Rhoda Mozorosky
Roseburg, Oregon