President Obama on Friday drew a parallel between the challenges authorities face when looking to prevent lone-wolf terrorist attacks and the effort to prevent mass shootings.
“It’s not that different from us trying to detect the next mass shooter,” Obama said of detecting lone-wolf plots, during his wide-ranging year-end press conference at the White House.
“You don’t always see it, they’re not always communicating publicly, and if you’re not catching what they say publicly then it becomes a challenge,” the president added.
{mosads}Days after a shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., left 14 dead and 21 injured, federal investigators identified multiple terrorism links to the suspects, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik.
Authorities said the couple were radicalized and had apparently expressed support for Islamist extremism in private communications.
Debate from those on both sides of the aisle in the 2016 presidential campaign has since shifted away from gun control to a focus on preventing terrorism.
Obama reiterated Friday that “we have to remain vigilant here at home,” and sought to allay fears of international terrorism in the wake of attacks in Paris and San Bernardino.