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Obama Says Orlando Gunman Was Probably a Homegrown Extremist Obama Says Orlando Gunman Was Probably a Homegrown Extremist
(about 5 hours later)
WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday that while it appeared the gunman in the Orlando, Fla., massacre had been inspired by extremist information he found on the internet, there was no clear evidence he had been part of a wider terrorist plot directed by the Islamic State. WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday that while the gunman in the Orlando massacre had declared allegiance to the Islamic State and appeared to have been inspired by extremist information on the internet, there was no clear evidence that he had been part of a wider plot directed by the terrorist group.
“As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time,” Mr. Obama said, speaking in the Oval Office after a briefing with law enforcement, counterterrorism and homeland security officials. “As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time,” Mr. Obama said, speaking in the Oval Office after a briefing with law enforcement, counterterrorism and Homeland Security officials.
Mr. Obama said the mass shooting in Orlando on Sunday by a gunman identified as Omar Mateen, who is accused of killing 49 people and wounding more than 50, was being investigated as an act of terrorism. Mr. Obama called it “similar” to the attack in San Bernardino, Calif., last year, in which the perpetrators claimed allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, before unleashing a blood bath, but had no direct connection to the group beforehand. Mr. Obama said the mass shooting in Florida on Sunday by Omar Mateen, who killed 49 people and wounded more than 50, was being investigated as an act of terrorism. Mr. Obama called it similar to last year’s attack in San Bernardino, Calif., in which the perpetrators claimed allegiance to the Islamic State beforehand but had no direct connection to it.
“We see no clear evidence that he was directed externally” by the Islamic State, Mr. Obama said of Mr. Mateen, although the killer declared fealty to the group “at the last minute.” The president said of Mr. Mateen that “we see no clear evidence that he was directed externally” by the Islamic State, although he declared fealty to the group “at the last minute.”
Still, Mr. Obama said the attack underscored the degree to which the Islamic State, a Sunni extremist organization, was able to inspire hateful acts of brutality around the world. Still, Mr. Obama said the attack underscored the Islamic State’s power to inspire hateful acts.
“One of the biggest challenges we are going to have is this kind of propaganda and perversions of Islam that you see generated on the internet, and the capacity for that to seep into the minds of troubled individuals, or weak individuals, and seeing them motivated then to take actions against people here in the United States and elsewhere in the world,” Mr. Obama said.“One of the biggest challenges we are going to have is this kind of propaganda and perversions of Islam that you see generated on the internet, and the capacity for that to seep into the minds of troubled individuals, or weak individuals, and seeing them motivated then to take actions against people here in the United States and elsewhere in the world,” Mr. Obama said.
Law enforcement officials are scrutinizing the material Mr. Mateen came across online in order to better understand the path that led him to the murderous rampage on Sunday, Mr. Obama said. Law enforcement officials were scrutinizing the material Mr. Mateen had come across online to better understand his path to murder, the president said.
The president, clearly anguished by the latest mass shooting to unfold during his tenure — over which a pattern has emerged of chilling acts of gun violence and refusals by Congress to enact gun restrictions in their aftermath — said the Orlando massacre should also prompt Americans to “think about the risks that we are willing to take by being so lax in how we make very powerful firearms available to people in this country.” Mr. Obama, clearly anguished by the latest mass shooting during his tenure — a period in which Congress has rejected calls to enact tougher gun restrictions — said the Orlando massacre should prompt Americans to “think about the risks that we are willing to take by being so lax in how we make very powerful firearms available to people in this country.”
“We make it very easy for individuals who are troubled, or disturbed, or want to engage in violent acts to obtain very powerful weapons very easily, and it’s a problem,” Mr. Obama said, noting that the rampage appeared to have been carried out with guns obtained legally, including one the suspect was able to carry out of the store the same day it was purchased. “We make it very easy for individuals who are troubled, or disturbed, or want to engage in violent acts to obtain very powerful weapons very easily, and it’s a problem,” Mr. Obama said, noting that it appeared Mr. Mateen carried out the rampage with guns obtained legally, including an assault rifle that he took out of the store the day it was purchased.
Without referring to him, Mr. Obama also appeared to counter Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, who has suggested in the wake of the Orlando horror that the president is insufficiently concerned about terrorist threats. Mr. Obama said that the shooting should prompt both an intensification of efforts to fight terrorism and new steps to rein in gun violence — and that one response need not come at the expense of the other. But the attack highlighted how the politics of gun control has thwarted the president’s determination to enact stricter measures.
“It’s not an either-or; it’s a both-and,” Mr. Obama said. “We have to go after these terrorist organizations and hit them hard, we have to counter extremism, but we also have to make sure that it’s not easy for somebody who decides they want to harm people in this country to be able to obtain weapons to get at them.” The White House said Mr. Obama would be a “forceful advocate” for Congress to tighten gun restrictions. He supports legislation to bar firearms sales to people placed on “no-fly” lists because of suspected terrorism links and to require background checks for purchases at gun shows.
The president also said the F.B.I., which has been criticized for failing to thwart the attack even though Mr. Mateen had been investigated for potential links to terrorist groups, had acted appropriately in the Orlando case. But his aides strongly suggested that the president was out of options to impose additional limits unilaterally on his own.
“The president is quite intensely frustrated that we haven’t seen the kind of congressional action that we know would have an impact” on mass shootings, said Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary. “The responsibility right now lies with Congress.”
Mr. Obama also said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which has faced some criticism for failing to stop the attack even though Mr. Mateen had been investigated in recent years for potential links to terrorist groups, had acted appropriately.
“The F.B.I. followed the procedures that they were supposed to and did a proper job,” Mr. Obama said.“The F.B.I. followed the procedures that they were supposed to and did a proper job,” Mr. Obama said.
The White House declined to respond to suggestions from Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, on Monday that Mr. Obama had refused to acknowledge Islamic terrorism and might have ulterior motives for doing so.
“When you are focused on something as big as safeguarding the country and combating violent extremism,” Mr. Earnest said of the president, “it’s important not to get distracted by things that are so small.”
He said Mr. Obama’s record “speaks for itself, and that record includes a lot of dead terrorists.”