A horrific shooting in San Bernardino, California has claimed the lives of at least 14 people. Details are still emerging, and federal and local law enforcement are on the ground to secure the area.
In an interview with CBS, President Obama spoke about the ongoing situation in California and the unacceptable pattern of mass shootings the U.S. is facing. Watch it:
President Obama speaks about San Bernardino shooting
WATCH: President Obama speaks with CBS This Morning's Norah O'Donnell after reports of an active shooter in San Bernardino: “We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.” http://cbsn.ws/1TwtDDF
Posted by CBS News on Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Here is a transcript of the President's comments:
“It's still an active situation. FBI is on the ground offering assistance to local officials as they need it. It does appear that there are going to be some casualties. And, obviously our hearts go out to the victims and the families. The one thing we do know is that we have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world. And there are some steps we could take not to eliminate every one of these mass shootings, but to improve the odds that they don't happen as frequently: common-sense gun safety laws, stronger background checks.
And for those who are concerned about terrorism, some may be aware of the fact that we have a no-fly list where people can't get on planes, but those same people who we don't allow to fly could go into a store right now in the United States and buy a firearm and there's nothing that we can do to stop them. That's a law that needs to be changed.
And so my hope is that we're able to contain this particular shooting, and we don't yet know what the motives of the shooters are, but what we do know is that there are steps we can take to make Americans safer, and that we should come together in a bipartisan basis at every level of government to make these rare as opposed to normal. We should never think that this is something that just happens in the ordinary course of events, because it doesn't happen with the same frequency in other countries.”