Obama heads to Roseburg today, a community divided over his visit

Eight days after the mass shooting at Umpqua Community College, President Obama is coming to Roseburg, Ore., where he’ll meet privately with victims’ families and survivors.

Local officials say he is welcome, but that sentiment is not universal. Some residents in this conservative timber town about 180 miles south of Portland accuse him of using the Oct. 1 rampage to justify gun control. They plan to protest.

A gunman with six weapons, including a rifle, killed nine people and wounded nine more before taking his own life during a battle with police.

Obama, visibly frustrated, appeared in the White House press room a few hours later.

“There’s been another mass shooting in America -- this time, in a community college in Oregon,” he said. “That means there are more American families -- moms, dads, children -- whose lives have been changed forever.”

Obama urged Americans to tighten gun laws, but didn’t sound hopeful.

“What’s become routine ... is the response of those who oppose any kind of common-sense gun legislation,” he said. “Right now, I can imagine the press releases being cranked out: We need more guns, they’ll argue. Fewer gun-safety laws. Does anybody really believe that?”

Hunting is popular in Douglas County, and so are guns. Obama’s mention of gun control on the same day as the college shooting sparked some of the opposition.

David Jaques, publisher of the weekly Roseburg Beacon, told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly on Monday that local officials didn’t want Obama to visit.

The president, he said, gave his news conference before the bodies had been counted. “Now, he wants to come to our community and stand on the corpses of our loved ones to make some kind of political point.”

The next day, however, Roseburg city officials welcomed Obama and disputed media reports to the contrary.

“Since the announcement that President Obama may be in the Roseburg area on Friday to meet with the families that lost loved ones at Umpqua Community College, news outlets have been announcing that the president was not welcome in Roseburg. These announcements have included alleged quotes from community leaders,” the city said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, individuals have been claiming to be speaking on behalf of the City of Roseburg. ... We wish to be clear that Mayor [Larry] Rich, City Council President [Tom] Ryan and the Roseburg City Council welcome the president to Roseburg and will extend him every courtesy.”

The Douglas County Commissioners said they looked forward to Obama’s visit. “Regardless of our differences with the president on policy issues, we await the president’s arrival and look forward to his show of support for a community who is grieving and whose heartache is immeasurable — especially the families of those killed,” the commissioners said in a statement.

Ryan, the council president, told NRToday, “We will honor the office and greet him with every courtesy due to that office. I hope [he visits] just to help heal the families and, if he does, everything is worth it.”

But one of the protest organizers, Michelle Finn, told the Associated Press: “He’s coming here purely to push his garbage, and we don’t want it.”

@conniestewartLA