The nine victims of a community college shooting in the US on Thursday have been named.

Police in the state of Oregon report that the victims include a teacher and several students from Roseburg's Umpqua Community College.

Among the victims were three 18-year-olds - Quinn Glen Cooper, Lucas Eibel and Rebecka Ann Carnes - as well as Lucero Alcaraz, 19, and 20-year-old Trevor Taylor Anspach.

The others were Jason Dale Johnson, 34, Sarena Dawn Moore, 44, Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59, and 67-year-old teacher Lawrence Levine.

They died when 26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer opened fire at the campus before he was killed by police in a shoot-out.

The shooting has reignited the debate about America's gun control laws.

America has experienced an average of more than one mass shooting a day so far this year. A mass shooting is defined as having four or more victims.

President Barack Obama has said it is wrong to blame mental health issues alone. He says other countries have "angry young men" but they don't generally have access to an arsenal of weapons when they "snap".

He says he plans to keep talking about the gun control issue and "will politicise it".

Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush had earlier been criticised for saying "stuff happens" when commenting on the college shooting.

When being pressed about what should be done about the shootings, he said: "Look, stuff happens and the impulse is always to do something and it's not necessarily the right thing to do."

It emerged last night that Harper-Mercer was a student at the college and was enrolled in the class where the attack took place.

Police recovered six weapons from the scene of the attack and another seven at his apartment, all of which were legally owned.

Harper-Mercer was reported to have been born in England before moving to the United States as a young boy.