Florida Senator and Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio criticized the response to the San Bernardino attack by saying President Obama has “an almost hope that none of this is terror-related, because he wants this argument to be we’ve got this under control” and stating “I don’t hear anybody talking about bomb control” in the same way they’re calling for gun control on Friday’s “Fox & Friends” on the Fox News Channel.
Rubio stated that while he understands why the president would want to be cautious about how he characterizes the San Bernardino attack, “this was not workplace-related, other than the fact the person returned to their workplace and started killing people there. They possessed dozens of pipe bombs, which, you don’t necessarily go home and build because someone offended you at work. My sense of it is, these people were clearly planning a broader attack, maybe there was an incident that set them off, he went back and said, let’s start it now, because I’m upset. But it may have been their original target. Irrespective, I think the evidence is going to continue to show that these were clearly people that had been radicalized and they were planning something broader.”
He added, “they were clearly planning something. I mean, you don’t build all these pipe bombs, and set up booby traps unless you’re planning something.”
Rubio further addressed the president’s response by saying, “when this first came out, without even knowing anything about the case, the first thing they started talking about was gun control and gun control. I don’t hear anybody talking about bomb control, because they were going to — they put bombs, they left bombs behind on the scene of attack, intending to kill even more people than they did with the guns. I think it’s symptomatic of the broader issue, and that is, an almost hope that none of this is terror-related, because he wants this argument to be we’ve got this under control. We do not have this under control. It is not contained. And in fact, every time one of these incidents occurs, it proves that. So, you could see in their original reaction they were hoping this was just another one of these incidents, and instead it’s turned into, increasingly likely, a terrorist attack.”
Later, Rubio added, “first of all, criminals will always have access to weapons. That’s why it’s important that law-abiding citizens have access to the ability to protect themselves. The other is that California, for example, has very strict gun laws. France has very strict gun laws. So, the existing gun laws, even all the proposals that the left are putting out, if they were all in place, none of them would have disrupted, not just the attack in San Bernardino, but none of these other major attacks we’ve seen over the last few years in this country, whether they’re terrorist-related or not. These laws have never been proven to do anything to reduce gun violence.”
He further stated, “The homegrown violent extremist is the biggest danger we face. It is the likeliest way ISIS or al Qaeda will attack our country, and it’s the hardest to disrupt, because these are not individuals that would have wound up on any database. These two people, these monsters that conducted this terrorist attack, are not people we would have known anything about, until they did this.”
Rubio added, “we need to rebuild our intelligence capabilities, that have been substantially diminished over the last few years, because of presidential directives, because of a bill that passed a few months ago, that, including some Republicans voted for, including people running for president. But beyond it, you must destroy ISIS. You’ve got to be clear we are at war with ISIS. we are going to destroy their ability to spew propaganda, to put out their online publication, to inspire people to attack us. We are at war with radical, apocalyptic jihadists. And we need to put an end to their ability to conduct operations, or to inspire people to conduct operations. And that is why ultimately, we must defeat them. They must be defeated, in Syria, in Iraq, in Libya, where they put out this propaganda out from.”
Rubio concluded by criticizing the New York Daily News’ “God Isn’t Fixing This” headline, and another that called the head of the NRA a terrorist as “typical of what you see in left-wing media. In fact, they all jumped to this conclusion. They criticized and mocked Republicans, and those who talked about prayers and thoughts with the family. You saw that in the headline yesterday. And then they identify someone involved in an organization that I happen to be a member of, and have been a member of for a long time, as equivalent to terrorists. This is the sort of outrage things that you see from the left. And again, look at, within seconds, within minutes, of this attack, you had multiple left-wing Democrats, whether they were senators or Hillary Clinton, out there talking about gun control, as if somehow it would have done anything to prevent this attack. And there’s no consequences for them having been wrong on it. This is a terror attack. And these individuals were plotting to kill as many people as possible, not just with guns, but with pipe bombs, and we need to understand this crisis for what it is. We are at war with radical jihadists.”
(h/t Mediaite)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett