Hillary Clinton: Mass shootings "beyond my comprehension"

DORCHESTER -- In response to the fatal shooting Thursday in Roseburg, Oregon, Hillary Clinton said that is it "beyond [her] comprehension that we are seeing these mass murders happen again and again and again."

Clinton commented on the shooting following a forum on substance abuse that she attended here as part of her campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.

"And as I have said, we have got to get the political will to do everything we can to keep people safe," she continued. "You know, I know there is a way to have sensible gun control measures that help prevent violence, prevent guns from getting into the wrong hands and save lives. And I am committed to doing everything I can to achieve that."

Clinton calls for "common sense" gun law reform

Clinton's response came as presidential candidates on both sides of the race offered their condolences and concern for the victims of the shooting, which killed 13 people and injured at least 20 more.

"My heart is with those who lost so much today in Oregon," Martin O'Malley said in a Tweet.

Bernie Sanders also commented via social media: "Another senseless tragedy with more innocent people killed. Our hearts go out to the family."

In an unrelated interview with the Washington Post, Republican front-runner Donald Trump said, "It sounds like another mental health problem. So many of these people, they're coming out of the woodwork. We have to really get to the bottom of it."

He said the frequency of such shootings seems to be increasing.

"Years back, I just don't remember these things happening. Certainly not with this kind of frequency," he said.

In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, neurosurgeon Ben Carson preemptively rejected any calls for gun control, saying that it follows every such shooting incident.

"Obviously that's not the issue," Carson said. "The issue is that the mentality of these people and we need to be looking at the mentality of these individuals and seeing if there are any early warning clues that we can gather that will help us as a society be able to identify these people ahead of time."

Clinton has addressed gun violence at many of her campaign events. In Cleveland in September, the day after a fatal shooting of a news reporter and photographer live on-air in Virginia, Clinton voiced her support for universal background checks on gun buyers.

She would not "sit by while more good people die."

"I strongly believe we've got to have common sense reforms to keep weapons out of the hands of criminals, the violently unstable, domestic abusers, and even terrorists who find it pretty easy in our country to get ahold of a weapon if they so choose," she said.

CBS News Political Digital Journalist Erica Brown and CBS News Associate Producer Alex Romano contributed to this story.

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