Oregon shooting prompts new calls for stricter gun laws

It didn't take long for Thursday's shooting at Umpqua Community College in Oregon to ignite inevitable debate over gun control, prompting calls from the White House for stricter gun laws and giving the 2016 presidential candidates a chance to weigh in on the contentious issue.

At an afternoon briefing, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that gun control is a “top priority” of the Obama administration, but that the president is “quite realistic that we’ll need to see a fundamental change in terms of the way the American people communicate this priority to Congress before we’ll see a different outcome in the legislative process.”

“The president has been quite candid about how this is and has been a source of frustration for him,” Earnest said.

Obama further expressed his frustration at a press conference Thursday evening, urging lawmakers as well as their constituents to take action.

"As I said just a few months ago, and I said a few months before that, our thoughts and our prayers are not enough," he said. "It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel and it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted someplace else in America next week or a couple of months from now."

Of those who've called for fewer gun restrictions in the wake of previous mass shootings, Obama asked, "How can you with a straight face make the argument that more guns will make us safer?"

Frustration seemed to be the overwhelming sentiment expressed on social media in the hours since news of the shooting first broke.

“It should alarm us that any time someone asks, ‘Did you hear about this school shooting?’ we need to ask, “Which one?” tweeted Shannon Watts, founder of the activist group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

A number of celebrities echoed Watts' exasperation.

As did several members of the media.

The reactions of presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Ben Carson and Donald Trump to the shooting seemed to articulate the political framework of the gun debate.  While Clinton affirmed her commitment to "sensible gun control measures," Trump expressed concern over what he said "sounds like another mental health problem." Carson emphasized the need to look for "early warning clues" in people who might carry out such shootings, and argued that gun control is "not the issue."

"What I worry about is when we get to the point where we say we need to have every gun registered," Carson told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. "We have to know where the poeple are and where there guns are, that's very dangerous. And that I wouldn't agree with at all."

Meanwhile, other presidential hopefuls stuck with safe declarations of sympathy and prayer for the victims and their families.