Democrats, led by President Obama, called for Congress to pass additional firearms restrictions in the wake of Wednesday’s mass shooting in Southern California, which has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation.
In brief comments to CBS News at the White House, Mr. Obama lamented that Congress hasn’t passed a law banning people on the government’s “no fly” terrorist watch list from purchasing guns. He said officials at all levels of government should work on a bipartisan basis to “make these [shootings] rare.”
“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,” Mr. Obama said in the CBS interview. “We should never think that this is just something that just happens in the ordinary course of events, because it doesn’t happen with the same frequency in other countries.”
Meanwhile, gun rights supporters argued that California leads the nation in its limits on firearms access, which include laws mandating universal background checks, waiting periods, written tests for purchases and an assault weapons ban.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement that “yet another American community is reeling from the horror of gun violence,” this time in San Bernardino County, where multiple gunmen opened fire on the Inland Regional Center and left at least 14 dead.
“Gun violence is a crisis of epidemic proportions in our nation,” said Ms. Pelosi. “Congress has a moral responsibility to vote on common-sense measures to prevent the daily agony of gun violence in communities across America. Enough is enough.”
The incident comes less than a week after a mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs left three dead and nine injured.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said: “Yet again our country is faced with another sickening act of gun violence perpetrated against innocent people.
“Gun violence has become a cancer on this nation,” Mr. Reid said in a statement. “We are better than this. Too often we are turning on our televisions to scenes of horror like those we are witnessing today. This madness must stop.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat, said “these deadly shootings aren’t slowing down.”
“When a convicted felon can walk into a gun show and buy an assault rifle, that’s a problem,” said Ms. Feinstein in a statement. “When an individual with a known mental illness can buy an assault rifle online, that’s a problem. When a terrorist who can’t board an airplane can buy an assault rifle in a gun store, that’s a problem.”
Democrats are increasingly using the term “terrorist” to refer to U.S.-born perpetrators of mass shootings.
“Congress also has a problem — a debilitating fear of upsetting the gun lobby,” Ms. Feinstein said. “Congress refuses even to require background checks on all firearms purchases, an action supported by the vast majority of Americans.”
The pro-Democrat group Democracy for America wasted no time Wednesday in sending out a fundraising appeal, accusing House Speaker Paul Ryan and Republicans of “aiding and abetting those terrorists” by refusing to pass more laws restricting gun access.
“Are you going to stand with the American people and pass common-sense gun reform? Or are you going to continue to side with the terrorists who perpetrate these crimes and the merchants of death in the gun industry who make it easier for them to do it?” said Charles Chamberlain, Democracy for America executive director.
Rep. John B. Larson, Connecticut Democrat, accused Congress of being “paralyzed by the influence of special interest groups,” while another Connecticut Democrat, Sen. Christopher Murphy, touched off a social media uproar for his post on Twitter.
“Your ’thoughts’ should be about steps to prevent this carnage,” Mr. Murphy said. “Your ’prayers’ should be for forgiveness if you do nothing — again.”
Responded online talk show host Doug Rink, “What are the chances that the gun(s) used in San Bernardino are already banned in California?”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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