Obama on Oregon Shooting: 'I Will Politicize It'

President Barack Obama says opponents of gun control laws know how to stir up fear and scare politicians. At a news conference Friday, Obama lamented the inability to pass stricter gun laws even after incidents such as the shooting Thursday at an Oregon community college that killed nine people. He added that interest groups and Republican politicians know how to organize and raise money, and that the American people must match their sense of urgency if the country is to stop the flood of mass shootings.

"This will not change until the politics changes and the behavior of elected officials changes. And so, the main thing I'm going to do is I'm going to talk about this. On a regular basis. And I will politicize it," Obama said, per a New York Times video. "Because our inaction is a political decision that we are making. And the people who are troubled by this have to be as intense and as organized and as adamant about this issue as folks on the other side, who are absolutists and think that any gun safety measures are somehow an assault on freedom or Communistic." He also ordered US flags to be flown at half-staff until sunset Tuesday. (More Umpqua Community College stories.)