A New York Congressman used today's shooting to call for stricter gun laws.
He says "If now is not the time to have a serious discussion about gun control and the epidemic of gun violence plaguing our society, I don't know when is."
PRESIDENT OBAMA "As a country, we have been through this too many times." " And we're going to have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics."
The discussion of America's gun control laws is back at the top of the page.
PAUL SMITH, CHAIRMAN, HAMILTON COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY "This goes beyond just one party, this is an American issue."
Some feel removing easy access to guns would cut back on the violence that takes 30-thousand lives a year in this country. Others don't think it would change much.
RONNIE DODD "It's a knee jerk situation, it's a shame that its happened. but if this person had decided he wanted to kill all these people, he was going to kill them ..one way or the other."
PAUL SMITH, CHAIRMAN, HAMILTON CO. DEMOCRATIC PARTY "No one wants to really take the hunting guns away or or guns that you have at your home for self-protection." "Reasonable people have to assume we have to do something to stop this carnage, on our innocents in our schools and in our theaters."
With thousands of people here in the tri-state area licensed to carry firearms, any call for major changes is sure to be shouted down.
RONNIE DODD "If you go back and research since the state of Tennessee has started having concealed carry permits, crime against persons has gone down because when someone decides to attack someone, they don't know if that person has a concealed permit of not."
Disarming gang members is another question all together.
PAUL SMITH "We see these gunfires taking place here in our sporting events, in the last two weekends. And so its just a matter of time before we have a similar episode if we continue on the path."
Under the 2nd Amendment, 80 million Americans, representing 50% of U.S homes, legally own 223 million guns.
