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Views From Close To The Tragedy

The gunman's father said the massacre “would not have happened” if his son had not been able to buy so many handguns and rifles. "It has to change,” he said. “How can it not? Even people that believe in the right to bear arms, what right do you have to take someone’s life?"

In an online posting, the gunman said of another murderer in Virginia, "I have noticed that people like him are all alone and unknown, yet when they spill a little blood, the whole world knows who they are. Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.”

The gunman's mother said, "I keep two full mags in my Glock case. And the ARs & AKs all have loaded mags. No one will be ‘dropping’ by my house uninvited without acknowledgement."

Umpqua Community College’s code of conduct banned guns “without written authorization,” and students said some of their classmates were able to carry guns on campus because they had concealed weapons permits. One of them, an Air Force veteran, told MSNBC that he was armed when the attack happened but did not intervene. He said SWAT officers might have mistaken him for a killer.

A woman wounded in the classroom still does not have any idea what the gunman's motive was. “I would ask him: Why? Why he did what he did,” she said.

The gunman's father said, "My heart goes out to all the families that were affected by this."

I'm Deborah Booth, and that's my perspective.

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