L.A. Shootings Spark Reaction

As more details emerge about suspected Los Angeles shooter Buford O. Furrow, President Clinton said the attack on a Jewish community center was "another compelling argument for this country to renew its commitment to our common community and our common humanity."

Attorney General Janet Reno reiterated her support for "sensible, reasonable" gun safety measures that lawmakers will debate when they return to Washington.

The American Jewish Congress called the shootings a distressing commentary on the soul of America.

Some major multiple shootings in 1999:

Aug. 5: Alan Eugene Miller, 34, is charged with killing two co-workers at their office in Pelham, Ala., then killing a third person at a company where he used to work.

July 29: Frustrated investor Mark O. Barton, 44, kills nine people and wounds 13 at two brokerage firms in Atlanta, then kills himself.

July 12: Six members of an Atlanta family, including four children, are shot to death by Cyrano Marks, the boyfriend of the children's mother. The gunman then kills himself.

June 11: Joseph Brooks Jr., 27, kills his former psychiatrist and a woman at the doctor's Southfield, Mich., clinic. Four others are wounded before Brooks kills himself.

June 3: Four employees of a Las Vegas grocery store are shot to death. Zane Floyd, 23, an ex-Marine and part-time nightclub bouncer, is arrested leaving the store.

May 20: Six students at Heritage High School in Conyers, Ga., are allegedly wounded by T.J. Solomon, a 15-year-old sophomore who fires 14 shots from a .22-caliber rifle and .357-caliber Magnum handgun.

April 20: Dylan Klebold, 17, and Eric Harris, 18, kill 13 people and then themselves at Columbine High in Littleton, Colo.

April 15: Sergei Babarin, 71, opens fire at the Mormon Family History Library in Salt Lake City, killing two people and wounding four before police shoot him to death.

March 18: Walter V. Shell, 71, kills his attorney and one of the lawyer's clients in Johnson City, Tenn. Shell blamed the lawyer for a $100,000 loss in a dispute over his ex-wife's will.

Jan. 14: Di-Kieu Duy, 24, allegedly opens fire in a Salt Lake City office building, killing one person and wounding another.

The group issued a statement saying the attack on a Jewish community center is "horrifying," and that it brings together the twin evils of gun violence and anti-Semitism.

The statement said this kind of "degenerate behavior" drags American society down to its lowest level.

Community center director Jeff Rouss said more must be done to protect the country's children.

"It's hard to imagine that the shooter had a grudge against anyone in the daycare [program] and carried out something that isn't relateto hate," said Rabbi Marvin Hier.

"This is not Columbine High where there were 'in' and 'out' groups of people," Hier continued. "This was a clearly defined Jewish center."

The rabbi said America's threshold of hate has changed. He claimed some loners act out just for the attention.

"Years ago in America, we used to watch these horrible acts across the oceans and we said, 'It couldn't happen here.' You can't say that anymore," Rabbi Hier said.

"You can't send your children to schools, synagogues, to church without being afraid something would happen," he said.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan said there are lessons to be learned from the latest shooting incident.

"We have known these lessons before," Riordan said.

"It's like at Littleton," Riordan continued. "If people had reported things they observed about the young children who did the shooting in Littleton, they could have stopped it."

More from CBS News