Intel Committee Ranking Member Schiff Statement on San Bernardino Mass Shooting
Washington, DC – Today, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, issued the following statement:
"This morning, I was briefed by the FBI on the investigation into the mass shooting in San Bernardino. They are conducting a thorough investigation into the suspects to determine the motive for this attack and whether there is any connection to a terrorist organization or evidence of domestic radicalization. At this point it is too early to rule anything in or out – it may have been workplace violence or it may have been more. I am confident the FBI will get to the bottom of what took place and why, and whether anything might have been done to prevent the attack.
“Early this week, we paused on the House Floor for a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the Colorado Springs shootings. This has become a painful ritual, repeated week after week, as hundreds of Americans are killed in an epidemic of mass violence. Soon, we will have another such moment, this time in memory of victims in my home state of California at a shooting not far from my district. While we do not yet know the motivation of these particular attackers, we do know enough about the nature of mass shootings to do something about them.
“There are many reasonable proposals in Congress that would, without question, reduce gun violence and mass shootings in America, chief among them – requiring a background check for every gun sale. We also need to make it easier to preclude people with serious mental health problems from gaining access to some of our most deadly weapons. Why does anyone need a military style assault weapon with an extended ammunition clip for hunting or self-protection? The simple answer is, they don’t. And we don’t need to have law enforcement outgunned by mass shooters.
“These reforms may or may not have impacted the shooting in San Bernardino or its lethality, but they would save lives in countless other cases. My constituents do not accept that weekly mass shootings are the new normal for America, or that we are incapable of doing anything about it – and neither do I. I do not want to lose another father, mother or child to a crazed gunman, and I do not want America to be known around the world for its gun violence. I am ready to trade the moments of silence, for moments of action.”
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