Sheriff in Oregon massacre town no fan of gun control
Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings: Hanlin
ROSEBURG (AFP) - The sheriff of a rural town in Oregon where a gunman killed nine people is a staunch opponent of gun control who bluntly made his views clear in a letter to Vice President Joe Biden.
Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin, who has come under the spotlight following the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, wrote Biden in January 2013, just weeks after another mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Connecticut that left 20 children dead.
"Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings," Hanlin wrote Biden, reacting to efforts by President Barack Obama s administration to pass gun control legislation.
Hanlin told the vice president that as sheriff he and his deputies would not enforce any gun control laws adopted by Obama s administration.
The sheriff earlier this year also spoke out against legislation in Oregon that would have required background checks on private citizens seeking to purchase weapons.
Asked on Friday on his stand on the issue following the Umpqua massacre, Hanlin refused to be drawn in.
"I want to stay focused on completing this investigation and focus on the families of the victims," he told CNN. "The discussion over firearms and control of firearms will occur. I ll dime in at a later time. Now is not that time."
Opponents of gun control have argued in the past that the best way to prevent mass shooting deaths is to have fewer -- not more -- gun restrictions, thus enabling people to defend themselves.
