LA mayor, police chief weigh in on gun violence

MONTEBELLO, Calif. (KABC) -- In the hours after the mass killing at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, the calls for stronger gun control laws began echoing across the country.

"Our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It's not enough," said President Barack Obama.

Gun control is taking center stage in the race for the presidency.

Democrat Hillary Clinton is vowing to push for universal background checks and a longer waiting period.

Republicans Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Dr. Ben Carson all called the shooting a tragedy but consider it a mental health problem, not a gun problem.

"I hope what we do every time we have one of these cases is study it very carefully to see what warning signs exist so that we begin to build a profile of the kinds of people who are likely to do things like this," said Carson.

California, meantime, is home to some of the country's strictest gun laws.

We have a 10-day waiting period, a ban on assault weapons and 50-caliber rifles, and a requirement that all gun sales be processed through a licensed dealer.

Los Angeles this year banned large capacity magazines and requires firearms to be secured with trigger locks or in locked containers.

But gun rights advocates say any laws that keep guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens will only decrease public safety.

"If anything, let's give people guns, the good people, so that these criminals think twice about doing something to these good folks," said Alex Delgadillo, owner of Firearms Academy."

But L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti on Friday called for more stringent federal gun laws, and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck says fewer guns on L.A.'s streets will mean fewer deaths.

"Too many times we have had to react to these tragedies, and all we do is react emotionally," said Beck. "We have to react with action."

Richard Martinez, whose son was one of six people killed in the Isla Vista rampage last year, wants universal background checks.

"The stronger a state's background checks, the less gun violence," said Martinez. "It shouldn't be harder to get a driver's license in this country than it is to buy a gun.

But gun control action on the federal level has failed to get traction in recent years. President Obama on Friday, though, promised to keep the issue at the forefront.