'Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing school shootings': Oregon sheriff at the center of the Roseburg college killings is a known anti-gun control campaigner

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John Hanlin, who is leading the investigation into the killing of at least nine students in Roseburg, Oregon, is an outspoken critic against gun control
Hanlin wrote a letter to Joe Biden imploring him to avoid new gun control measures in the wake of Sandy Hook
He is refusing to address Chris Harper-Mercer, who killed at least nine at Umpqua Community College, by name
Says to do so would give the 26-year-old killer the notoriety he craved

Published: 08:40 EST, 2 October 2015 | Updated: 09:18 EST, 2 October 2015

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The Oregon sheriff who is running the investigation into the Roseburg college shooting is a campaigner against gun control who has lobbied the Obama administration.

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin wrote a letter to Vice President Joe Biden one month after the Sandy Hook atrocities in January 2013, defending the right to bear arms, protected by the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

'Gun control is NOT the answer to preventing heinous crimes like school shootings,' Hanlin wrote.

The sheriff has refused to publicly name Chris-Harper-Mercer, the 26-year-old gunman behind the campus shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, that killed nine, saying naming him will only give him the notoriety he sought.

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin addresses the media following the deadly shooting, confirming the gunman's death. He is a notable gun control critic

Suspect: Chris Harper-Mercer, 26, has been identified as the gunman at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg - an American with links to Britain who appeared to celebrate Nazis and the IRA

'I don't want to glorify his name. I don't want to glorify his cause,' Hanlin told CNN.

In a blog post linked to him, Harper-Mercer said he relished the headlines garnered by Vester Flanagan, the man who shot dead two reporters during a live broadcast in Virginia in August before killing himself.

Remote: The rural college is located 180 miles south of Portland, Oregon, where the gunman lived with his mother

'A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone ... Seems the more people you kill, the more you're in the limelight,' the post read.

A day after the shooting, residents of the quiet former timber town struggled to comprehend the deadliest mass killing this year in the United States. The gunman also wounded seven people in the rampage and died in an exchange of gunfire with police.

Harper-Mercer lived with his mother in nearby Winchester and was described as 'lonely' and 'skittish' by neighbors.

He stormed into a classroom at the college that serves mostly older students in career transitions, shot a professor at point-blank range, then ordered cowering students to stand up and state their religion before he shot them one by one, according to survivors' accounts.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown declined in television interviews on Friday morning to discuss gun control, as did the sheriff, and said it was a time for healing the community.

Just hours after Thursday's shooting, a visibly angry President Barack Obama urged Americans to press their elected leaders to enact tougher firearms safety laws.

'Somehow this has become routine. The reporting is routine. My response here, at this podium, ends up being routine,' he said. 'We've become numb to this.'

Tragedy: A victim covered in a bloody blanket is seen being wheeled to an ambulance from the college campus after Thursday's shooting, where at least nine died

Emotions were running high following the shooting as family members awaited news

Authorities offered no motive for the shooting. Hanlin said local homicide detectives and federal agents were conducting an investigation.

Not counting Thursday's incident, 293 mass shootings have been reported this year, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker website, a crowd-sourced database kept by anti-gun activists that logs events in which four or more people are shot.

Meanwhile more details have emerged about the gunman behind America's most recent mass killing.

He wore body armor and carried three handguns and a rifle when he shot dead nine victims before being killed himself.

Witnesses said he had made his victims stand-up at gunpoint and say if they were Christian before telling them: 'Good, you'll see God in a second' and shooting them in the head. Survivors only saved their own lives by playing dead.

Security sweep: Authorities move from building to building to secure the campus

A bullet casing is marked at the scene of the massacre in Roseburg, Oregon, where

After his bloody rampage was reported to police he was then killed in a gunfight with officers with one source saying: 'He appears to be an angry young man who was very filled with hate'.

His British father Ian Mercer, who lives in California, said: 'I'm just as shocked as everybody at what happened. I've just been talking to the police and the FBI. That's all the details I have right now, is what you know already.

He added: 'Obviously, it's been a devastating day. Devastating for me and my family'.

Posts across a host of websites also show how Harper-Mercer apparently idolized the violence of Nazi Germany and the Irish Republican Army.

He used a reference to a Nazi war medal as his dating profile name, and posted glowing reviews of Nazi memorabilia he had bought online.

His Myspace page is littered with images glorifying masked IRA fighters, lauding them as ‘undefeated’ and ‘looking cool’ – right next to images of him holding a rifle.

According to his profile on a dating site Harper-Mercer is 'mixed race,' a 'conservative Republican,' 'not religious' and lives with his mother - and appears to have a large family from Britain.

So far nine victims have died plus the gunman making 10 fatalities in total.

FBI INVESTIGATING IF THE OREGON SHOOTER WARNED OF MASSACRE ONLINE HOURS BEFORE HE MURDERED 10

The FBI is today investigating whether a warning message on an online forum was posted by the shooter hours before he murdered 10 students at an Oregon college.

Officers are probing whether Chris Harper-Mercer, 26, wrote the anonymous message on bulletin board 4chan: 'Don't go to school tomorrow if you are in the northwest.'

It was written at 1.19am yesterday morning and the first shots were fired at Umpqua Community College at 10.38am.

MailOnline has been unable to verify the authenticity of the message, although police are said to be treating it seriously because 4chan has been used my school shooters in the past.

In 2013, 18-year-old student Neil Allan Macinnis shot dead two women at a Virginia college - before the killing he posted on 4chan asking users to 'wish him luck.'

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A sinister warning message purportedly from the shooter who opened fire at an Oregon college allegedly appeared on an internet forum last night. Dailymail.com can not verify the authenticity of the message and has contacted 4chan for a response

History: In 2013, 18-year-old student Neil Allan Macinnis (pictured) shot dead two women at a Virginia college - before the killing he posted on 4chan asking users to 'wish him luck'

The message, which is time stamped 19:19 p.m, continued: 'happening thread will be posted tomorrow morning. so long space robots.'

'Will post again in am, 10 min countdown. Won't say more to much to prepare.'

The alleged post is no longer visible on the website - the cached version was first posted on Reddit.

Under the disturbing message, many users encouraged the person to go ahead with their threat and even advised the poster on the best ways to kill people.

One user wrote: 'I suggest you enter a classroom and tell people that you will take them as hostages. Make everyone get in one corner and then open fire.