The Oregon community college shooter's father slams US gun laws: 'It has to change'

In the days following the latest school shooting in the US, familiar demands for tougher gun laws can be heard everywhere; from the backyards of Roseburg, Oregon where the Umpqua Community College massacre took place, all the way to the White House.

Chris Harper-Mercer, the 26-year-old who opened fire on the UCC campus Thursday, had taken six guns to school that day.

After Mercer shot and killed nine people in a writing class, he exchanged fire with responding police officers before killing himself.

Mercer owned 14 guns in all, according to investigators.

Ian Mercer, the father of the gunman, lamented that fact during a CNN interview cited by The New York Times on Saturday.

"How was he able to compile that kind of arsenal?" Mercer asked the question, while admitting he didn't know that his son had any guns. He echoed the same calls for gun control that have bitterly divided US lawmakers and the public at large.

"It has to change," Mercer said, referring to current US gun laws, "How can it not? Even people that believe in the right to bear arms, what right do you have to take someone's life?"

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