Obama said extremist groups perverted Islam to justify terrorism.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday held a meeting with his National Security Council and discussed the issue of terrorism in the aftermath of Orlando attacks. The meeting was attended by his top national security officials FBI Director James Comey, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
He made it clear that he would ensure a tough stand is taken against ISIS and showed solidarity to the victims and family of Orlando attacks, wherein 49 people were killed at a gay night club. "They are not alone. The American people, our allies, friends, people all over the world stand with them," he said.
President called the shooter the 'lone actor' influenced by ISIS. "This (Orlando shooter) individual appears to have absorbed some of that and during his killing spree, the shooter in Orlando pledged allegiance to ISIL. These lone actors or small cells of terrorists are very hard to detect and very hard to prevent," he said.
"But across our government at every level, federal, state and local, military and civilian, we are doing everything in our power to stop these kinds of attacks. We work to succeed 100 percent of the time. An attacker, as we saw in Orlando, only has to succeed once," he said.
Obama said extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. "As President, I have called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the world's great religions," he said.
Elaborating on the role that the lawmakers would play, he said that they could help prevent attacks like these by making it more difficult for people who want to kill Americans to get access to assault weapons. Obama assured that the aim of the country was to ensure that such act of terror and hate are avoided.
"If we really want to help law enforcement protect Americans from home-grown extremists, the kind of tragedies that occurred at San Bernardino and now have occurred in Orlando, there is a meaningful way to do that," Obama said. "We have to make it harder for people who want to kill Americans to get their hands on weapons of war that let them kill dozens of innocents. "People with possible ties to terrorism who aren't allowed on a plane shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun," Obama added. "Reinstate the assault weapons ban. Make it harder for terrorists to use these weapons to kill us."
The United States passed a ban on semi-automatic firearms in 1994, but it expired in 2004 and has not been renewed following several challenges that were rejected by the courts.
Obama also said that the United States is doing everything it can to prevent attacks against the US homeland and is taking the fight against Islamic State, which is why around 120 of the group's leaders have been killed. "These are not religious warriors. They are thugs and they are thieves," he said.
He expressed hope that the country founded on basis of freedom would retain freedom of religion.
Obama said extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism. "As President, I have called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the world's great religions," he said.
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