Chris Harper Mercer Reignites Contentious Gun Control Debate

Oct. 4 2015, Updated 10:27 a.m. ET

After Chris Harper Mercer massacred 9 students before taking his own life at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, the debate over gun control has been thrown open once again in the United States, with predictable results.

In an interview with CNN, Mercer’s own father, Ian Mercer, questions how his son Chris could have gotten hold of such an arsenal of weapons.

Article continues below advertisement

“How on earth could he compile 13 guns? How could that happen? We talk about gun laws. We talk about gun control. Every time something like this happens, they talk about it and nothing gets done. I’m not trying to say that that’s to blame for what happened, but if Chris had not been able to get hold of 13 guns, this wouldn’t have happened.”