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Barack Obama slams shooting ‘pattern’

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US President Barack Obama has bemoaned the “pattern” of mass shootings in the country, as the world reacts to the gun violence seen at San Bernardino in California.

At least 14 people are confirmed dead and another 14 injured after the massacre, while police killed two suspects and detained a third in the hours after.

One officer is wounded with non life-threatening injuries.

Speaking to CBS, Mr Obama also sent his condolences to victims and their families.

“We don’t yet know what the motives of the shooters are, but what we do know is there are steps we can take to make Americans safer and that we should come together in a bipartisan basis at every level of government to make these rare as opposed to normal,” Mr Obama said.

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“We should never think that this is something that just happens in the ordinary course of events, because it doesn’t happen with the same frequency in other countries.

“We have a pattern now of mass shooting in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world.”

Mr Obama has long been an advocate for tighter gun control in the US, however his attempts to make changes have been blocked by a hostile Congress and influential gun lobbies.

Authorities say multiple gunmen walked into a conference room at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, which provides care for people living with developmental disabilities, and opened fire on Thursday morning (AEDT), killing at least 14.

San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan said it seemed the attackers were armed with “long guns” and were wearing equipment that suggested a high level of planning and coordination. 

Burguan also said there was a ‘possibility’ that the massacre was terrorism-related and that of the two suspects dead, one was male and one was female.

The shooting in California comes less than a week after a gunman killed three people and wounded nine in a shooting rampage at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.

“The last thing Americans should have to do, over the holidays or any day, is comfort the families of people killed by gun violence — people who woke up in the morning and bid their loved ones goodbye with no idea it would be for the last time,” Mr. Obama said on Friday (AEDT) after the Colorado Springs incident.

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