The mother of a gunman who killed nine people and himself at an Oregon community college allowed her troubled son to have guns.

AMERICA is in the deadly grip of a self-inflicted epidemic. Already this year, in just nine months, 9,940 people — more or less the population of Dungarvan — have been killed in assault incidents involving guns. Of those, 550 were children, and 1,962 were teenagers. This drip, drip of terrible violence can hardly be surprising as almost half of all guns in civilian ownership on the planet are held by Americans.

A gunman opened fire last night at a community college in Oregon, killing 13 people and wounding 20, in the latest mass killing to rock a US college, officials and media said.