It's time to take action after Roseburg school massacre

Reactions to the Roseburg school massacre could not have been more different between leaders in the Democratic and Republican Parties.

President Obama said, "As I said just a few months ago, and I said a few months before that, and I said each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It's not enough... The United States of America is the one advanced nation on Earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense gun-safety laws -- even in the face of repeated mass killings..."

"We know that other countries... have been able to craft laws that almost eliminate mass shootings. Friends of ours, allies of ours -- Great Britain, Australia, countries like ours. So we know there are ways to prevent it . Well, this is something we should politicize. It is relevant to our common life together, to the body politic."

The presumed leader of the mainstream Republican Party, Jeb Bush said, "Look, stuff happens. There's always a crisis, and the impulse is always to do something and it's not always the right thing to do."

The Democratic House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi said, "The House should first pass a bipartisan bill which would expand existing background checks to cover all commercial firearm sales, including those at gun shows, over the Internet or in classified ads . But we should not stop there," she wrote the speaker. "I urge you to create a Select Committee on Gun Violence to confront this crisis."

The presidential front-runner of the Republican Party, Donald Trump said, "You're going to have these things happen and it's a horrible thing to behold, horrible . What are you going to do, institutionalize everybody?"

Our thoughts and prayers are not enough. I believe it's time to take action. How about you?

James Frazier

Bradenton

This story was originally published October 14, 2015 at 4:56 PM with the headline "It's time to take action after Roseburg school massacre ."