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[h=4]Obama meets with families of shooting victims[/h]Meeting with relatives of last week's shooting victims in Oregon, President Obama said Friday that the United States must figure out how to prevent these kinds of tragedies in the future.
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President Obama thanked the people of Oregon for supporting the community of Roseberg, during a visit to the families of the Umpque Community College shooting victims. USA TODAY
President Obama walks with Oregon Gov. Kate Brown prior to their short motorcade ride to Roseburg.(Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP)
After offering<span style="color: Red;">*</span>condolences to relatives of last week's shooting victims in Oregon, President Obama said Friday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the nation should "come together" and figure out how to prevent mass killings in the future.
"I've obviously got very strong feelings about this," Obama said during brief remarks after meeting with family members at a high school in Roseburg, Ore.
Obama, who last week called for more gun control and said he planned to politicize the issue in the week of this latest shooting,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>kept his remarks short, saying, "we're going to have to come together as a country, but today is about the families."
USA TODAY
11 mass shootings, 11 speeches: How Obama has responded
As Obama prepared to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>meet with relatives of the eight students and teacher killed during the shooting at Umpqua Community College, gun rights supporters<span style="color: Red;">*</span>gathered in Roseburg to protest the president's visit<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with signs, flags, and guns in tow.
“Obama is just doing this to make himself look good,” said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Leslie Corp, 62, of Wolf Creek, Ore.,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>holding a yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” flag.
The day of the shooting, Obama amplified his call for new restrictions on guns, including expanded background checks, and said lawmakers have failed to confront a deadly increase in mass shootings.
In protesting the president's trip to Oregon, gun owners said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>his proposals would be ineffective and violate their constitutional rights. Along the motorcade route from the airport to the high school, protesters carried signs that read "Obama Go Home" and "Gun Free Zones Are For Sitting Ducks." Some of the protesters carried guns.
Leslie Corp, 62, of Wolf Creek, holds a "Don't Tread on Me" and American flag in protest of Obama's visit at Roseburg in Roseburg, Ore., on Oct. 9, 2015. "These are my people, no matter where they are," Corp said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Anna Reed, Oregon Statesman Journal)
Diane Koenig, 56, who traveled to Roseburg from Kalama, Wash., to be part of the protest, said that "if there was a person there who had a gun" at the college when the shooting took place, "I think the outcome would have been different."
Others carried signs welcoming Obama to Oregon.
“I wanted to be supportive of President Obama and my friends here in town,” Laurie Benoit, of Salem, said.
Benoit<span style="color: Red;">*</span>held a handmade sign reading, “We love UCC, Oregon, Obama," as she and several other supporters stood together near the entrance to the school.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“I think it is important to band together and make each other feel good,” Benoit said.
A small group of curious onlookers stood in a restaurant parking lot above the school’s parking lot. None<span style="color: Red;">*</span>had signs displaying a political side, but several were waving American flags.
Robert Hourigan, 53, of Roseburg, initially stopped by the protest at the airport, but later watched for the presidential motorcade at the high school.
“I thought the protest was inappropriate,” he said. “I thought they should be focusing on the community and the healing. I want people to focus on the love right now, not the hate. For the president to come and show his respects, it shows he cares, and it is comforting.”
Before the trip, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama's goal in making the trip "is to spend time with the families of those who are so deeply affected by this terrible tragedy."
The White House said that Oregon Gov. Kate Brown briefed Obama on the state's efforts to support families affected by the shooting at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Umpqua Community College
Obama "expressed his thanks for the work that Governor Brown is doing as well as the efforts of other state and local officials during this difficult time," said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine.
After meeting with those directly affected, Obama told the governor<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that if there were anything he could do to help at the federal level, he would do it.
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