Last updated on October 11th, 2015 at 08:20 pm
Protesters mourning the Umpqua Community College mass shooting brought guns, banners, signs and Confederate flags to protest Barack Obama’s visit to Roseburg, Oregon. A crowd of around 300 pro-gun protesters assembled outside the Roseburg airport to make their voices heard.
While the President met with the families of the victims, gun rights’ advocates organized through a Facebook page called “Defend Roseburg-Deny Barack Obama.” The demonstrators gathered in a less somber tone, instead honking horns and carrying signs that read “Obama free zone,” “Go Home-You’re Not Wanted Here” and “Warning: Protected by 9mm”. The protesters also flew American flags, as well as Confederate flags and Gadsden flags.
Just days after a horrific gun massacre, demonstrators defiantly carrying guns and boisterously slamming the president while he was comforting the families of the victims, seems tragically irreverent. While the protesters blasted President Obama for supposedly politicizing the shooting, it was they who turned Obama’s visit into a political carnival. Rather than holding a somber protest in honor of the deceased, the group of raucous 2nd Amendment zealots decided to turn Obama’s visit into a right-wing rally for gun fetishists.
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One of the protesters, who flew a Gadsden flag and the Confederate flag, told reporters:
As an American, I think it’s always good to be armed in case of an emergency, in case accidents happen, like the school shooting. Say somebody was to be armed in that situation, that would have been taken care of real quick.
Of course what he failed to point out is that somebody was armed in that situation. That armed person shot 18 people, killing 9 of them, and then turned the gun on himself. Furthermore, the mass shooting wasn’t an accident, it was intentional.
Another demonstrator complained:
We are mad, we’re upset that this has become a national issue.
He [Obama] needs to be in Chicago, in his own hometown and his own home state. This is where there is a gun problem; we don’t have one here.
Nope, no problem at all. The depths of her denial is palpable. The Community College shooting wasn’t a “problem,” it was just an unfortunate accident, that could have been prevented if only there had been more guns on the scene.
Perhaps the people in Roseburg and surrounding communities really are appalled that the President had the temerity to suggest that America has a gun problem, as he consoled the victims of the 45th school shooting in the country this year. Some of them made their voices heard. Unfortunately, what the message looked like to the rest of the country, is that some residents care more about their guns than they do about their fallen neighbors.
Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick’s successful re-election bid in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.
