President Obama said in response to the Oregon shooting that “each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough” and that more gun legislation is needed in a speech at the White House Thursday. (RELATED: Mass Shooting At Community College In Oregon)

Obama suggested, “It cannot be this easy for someone who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun.”

He lamented, “the United States of America is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common sense gun safety laws even in the face of repeated mass killings.”

Barack Obama: But as I said just a few months ago, and I said a few months before that, and I said each time we see one of these mass shootings, our thoughts and prayers are not enough. It’s not enough. It does not capture the heartache and grief and anger that we should feel. And it does nothing to prevent this carnage from being inflicted some place else in America, next week or a couple of months from now. We don’t yet know why this individual did what he did and it’s fair to say that anyone who does this has a sickness in their minds. Regardless of what they think their motivations may be. But we are not the only country on earth with people with mental illnesses or who want to do harm to other people. We are the only advanced country on earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months. You know, earlier this year, I answered a question in an interviews by saying the United States of America is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common sense gun safety laws even in the face of repeated mass killings. And later that day, there was a mass shooting at a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. That day. Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here at this podium ends up being routine. The conversation in the aftermath of it, we’ve become numb to this. We talked about this after Columbine and Blacksburg, after Tucson, after Newtown, after Aurora, after Charleston. It cannot be this easy for someone who wants to inflict harm on other people to get his or her hands on a gun. And what’s become routine, of course, is the response to those who are opposed to any gun control legislation.

Follow Steve on Twitter