Williams: Now is time to mourn for victims

As the events of a community college shooting were still unfolding Thursday in Roseburg, Oregon, President Barack Obama called upon Congress and the American people to strengthen gun laws.

It was too early to take any action other than to grieve, U.S. Rep. Roger Williams said.

"We should have been thinking of the families," he said. "We should have been praying for the victims."

The shooting at Umpqua Community College left 10 dead, including the shooter, and at least 10 others were injured. The shooter has been described as having anti-government, anti-religion and racial leanings. He's believed to have worn body armor, and had backup ammunition in his possession.

"I thought President Obama overreacted," Williams said. "He's politicizing his anti-gun agenda. I'm disappointed."

Roseburg is a rural community of about 22,000, about half the size of Burleson.

"We are the only advanced country on Earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months," Obama said in an address. "It cannot be this easy for somebody who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun."

We know that states with the most gun laws tend to have the fewest gun deaths, Obama said.

An L.A. Times report on school shootings released Thursday found 142 since the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy in Newtown, Conn., in 2012.
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But that report also identified nine shootings "in" Texas schools, only one of which actually took place in a school, and in that case was an accidental discharge of a firearm by a student with blank ammunition. Two of those nine cases happened outside the school on a weekend, when the school was closed.

Obama had encouraged the media Thursday to compile and release data on school shootings.

"When the time is right, we can have a legitimate discussion," Williams said.

The Republican-dominated Congress is unwilling to address stricter gun laws or even fund data gathering, Obama said, calling on the American people to act through voting for those who will.

Williams is an advocate of the 2nd Amendment and for gun rights, a trait he says is shared by those in his district ranging from north of Burleson to Austin and including Fort Hood. He's also a gun owner and is supportive of the National Rifle Association's position, one Obama took aim at Thursday as not representative of membership.

"Guns don't kill people," Williams said. "But, gun-free zones don't work very good."

The nine "shootings" in Texas listed in the L.A. Times report were in a gun-free zone, just not all within a school or with the school as a target.

Successful discussion would require a look at all factors, Williams said.