President Obama on the Shooting in San Bernardino

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.

DECEMBER 5: We Will Not Be Terrorized

President Obama received an update on the investigation into the shooting. Here's a readout: 

The President this morning received an update from FBI Director Comey, Attorney General Lynch, Secretary of Homeland Security Johnson, and his intelligence community leadership on the ongoing investigation into the horrific shootings in San Bernardino, California. The President was briefed on the latest details of the investigation. The President's team highlighted several pieces of information that point to the perpetrators being radicalized to violence to commit these heinous attacks. The President's team also affirmed that they had as of yet uncovered no indication the killers were part of an organized group or formed part of a broader terrorist cell. The FBI added that, in coordination with local authorities, they are utilizing all necessary resources to pursue any and all leads in their terrorism investigation. The President directed his team to take all measures necessary to continue to protect the American people, which remains his highest priority.

In his weekly address, the President offered his condolences to the families and communities of the victims of the shooting and called on Congress to close a loophole that allows people on the No-Fly list to purchase guns. Watch it: 

DECEMBER 3:

After meeting with his national security team, the President spoke further about the shooting in San Bernardino on December 3 in the Oval Office. Watch it here: 

DECEMBER 2: 

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: 

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."