Governor Chris Christie – speaking on a New Hampshire radio show this morning – called the president’s speech absurd. Killers hell-bent on mass murder, whether from Islamic countries, the United States or elsewhere, are virtually impossible to detect before they commit acts of terror, including, if necessary, suicidal attacks that take their lives along with their victims.
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Obama stressed that the security of the nation remains strong, despite the real threat of terrorism.
“We have no evidence that the killers were directed by a terrorist organization overseas, or that they were part of a broader conspiracy here at home”.
A senior administration official said the speech was created to convey the seriousness with which Mr. Obama was taking the shootings in San Bernardino, which are being investigated as a terror attack.
While talking about the killings at San Bernardino, President Obama said, “The FBI is still gathering the facts about what happened in San Bernardino, but here is what we know”.
The President also reiterated his stance on gun control, calling for stricter legislation to keep firearms out of the hands of murderers.
In his address, the first from the Oval Office in a number of years, the president also said the nation must “reject proposals” that Muslim Americans should be treated differently – a comment that comes almost two weeks after presidential hopeful Donald Trump indicated he wanted a registry for all Muslims in the country.
The U.S. has recently added special operations forces in both Iraq and Syria, but Obama continues to reject placing regular troops on the ground.
The official indicated the White House will talk to companies in the tech sector in the coming days about developing a “clearer understanding of when we believe social media is being used actively and operationally to promote terrorism”, the official reportedly said.
Lynch also said that “dealing with guns is one way to handle the violence crime issues that we have in this country”.
On Thursday, as investigators were searching for a motive, Obama said at the White House that the shootings could have been terrorist-related or workplace-related.
Obama said the US and its coalition partners are stepping up the fight against IS, pointing to new support from Britain and Germany. He called for tougher screening of travellers who come to the U.S. without visas, and asked Congress to ban gun sales to people on the government’s no-fly list, and for limits on assault weapons. U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, a Republican from Zeeland, told 24 Hour News 8 on Monday that he hopes that’s the case. “This is a matter of national security”. “But we will overcome it. We will destroy ISIL, and any other organization that tries to harm us”.
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“I think Democrats are going to be pleased”, Yepsen said. He doesn’t seem to have eased many fears, or quieted his many critics, which may beg the question why make the speech at all, except that he would’ve probably been roundly criticized for saying nothing at all.
