President Barack Obama urged the country to take steps to reduce mass shootings, including stricter gun laws and stronger background checks. The Times News conducted an informal poll on Facebook this morning asking people, "Do you think stricter gun laws would have prevented this shooting?"

We printed a few replies. To see complete replies, visit our Facebook page.Jeremy T. Glaush: It was well-planned and executed. Terrorists and radicals don't always "tip their hand" before doing something like this, it's called a "Sleeper." ... If it wasn't a gun it would be a machete; if not a machete it would be a lead pipe; if not a lead pipe it would be bare hands. The evil that is apparent in all of these attacks cannot be deterred until good people stop playing the victim and take action. I know many people that open carry and I never have felt unsafe in their presence.Tony Frantz: Sadly California already has strict gun laws, yet it didn't prevent anything. Banning guns won't prevent anything. Law breakers by nature will break the law - harming the innocent.Doreen Briese: I love how people assume stricter gun laws means banning gun sales; it doesn't. It means making it harder for certain people to get their hands on them; it means people registering their guns like we do our cars. Yes we need tighter control on our sales of guns and the hands they fall into. It is way too easy to purchase them making incidents like this one and so many others in the U.S. plus the hundreds of shooting accidents never-ending.Tom Keerans Jr.: There is no fixing this. No matter what the government does it is impossible to control. If you stopped selling guns this second it still would be uncontrolled. How many guns are stolen each and every day? How many guns are smuggled into this country every day? Our government is clueless to how many legal guns are actually owned and can only take an educated guess to how many there are.Bill Knappenberger: Criminals do not follow laws. … Hence they are criminals. ... When will people figure out that stricter gun laws will not work?Desiree Palazzo Kelly: The most dangerous places in this country are those with the strictest gun laws. ... What does your common sense tell you?Cindy Clarke Soltis: Do you really think stricter gun control is going to help? Please, people are going to have guns, and be able to get guns anyway!Janice Kistler: It would certainly help. No civilized country has the violence of that we have! I believe more responsible gun owners would agree without the NRA scare tactics.Aj Everett: If anyone watched anything on this, our country has a major loophole that needs to be fixed. You can be on the TSA no-fly list but still legally own a gun. … I'm sure if they are willing to point that out there are more loopholes.