English subtitles for clip: File:President Obama Speaks on the Shooting in Orlando.webm

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The President: I just had
the opportunity to get the

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latest briefing from FBI
Director Comey, as well as

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Deputy Attorney General
Yates and the rest of my

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national security team about
the tragedy that took place

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in Orlando.

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They're going to be doing
a more extensive briefing

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around noon -- just a little
bit after noon over at

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FBI headquarters.

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So I will allow them to go
into all the details, but I

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thought it was important for
you to hear directly from me.

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First of all, our hearts go
out to the families of those

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who have been killed.

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Our prayers go to those
who have been wounded.

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This is a devastating
attack on all Americans.

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It is one that is
particularly painful for the

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people of Orlando, but I
think we all recognize that

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this could have happened
anywhere in this country.

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And we feel enormous
solidarity and grief on

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behalf of the families
that have been affected.

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The fact that it took place
at a club frequented by the

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LGBT community I think
is also relevant.

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We're still looking at all
the motivations

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of the killer.

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But it's a reminder that
regardless of race,

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religion, faith or sexual
orientation, we're all

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Americans, and we need to be
looking after each other and

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protecting each other at all
times in the face of this

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kind of terrible act.

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With respect to the killer,
there's been a lot of

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reporting that's been done.

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It's important to emphasize
that we're still at the

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preliminary stages of the
investigation, and there's a

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lot more that we
have to learn.

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The one thing that we can
say is that this is being

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treated as a terrorist
investigation.

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It appears that the shooter
was inspired by various

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extremist information that
was disseminated over

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the Internet.

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All those materials are
currently being searched,

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exploited so we will have a
better sense of the pathway

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that the killer took in
making the decision to

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launch this attack.

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As Director Comey I think
will indicate, at this stage

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we see no clear evidence
that he was directed externally.

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It does appear that, at the
last minute, he announced

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allegiance to ISIL, but
there is no evidence so far

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that he was in fact
directed by ISIL.

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And there also at this stage
is no direct evidence that

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he was part of
a larger plot.

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In that sense, it appears to
be similar to what we saw in

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San Bernardino, but
we don't yet know.

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And this is part of what is
going to be important in

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terms of the investigation.

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As far as we can tell right
now, this is certainly an

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example of the kind of
homegrown extremism that all

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of us have been so concerned
about for a very long time.

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It also appears that he was
able to obtain these weapons

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legally because he did not
have a criminal record that,

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in some ways, would prohibit
him from purchasing

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these weapons.

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It appears that one of those
weapons he was able to just

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carry out of the store -- an
assault rifle, a handgun --

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a Glock -- which had
a lot of clips in it.

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He was apparently required
to wait for three days under

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Florida law.

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But it does indicate the
degree to which it was not

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difficult for him to obtain
these kinds of weapons.

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Director Comey will discuss
the fact that there had been

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some investigation of him in
the past that was triggered,

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but as Director Comey I
think will indicate, the FBI

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followed the procedures that
they were supposed to and

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did a proper job.

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At the end of the day, this
is something that we are

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going to have to grapple
with -- making sure that

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even as we go after
ISIL and other extremist

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organizations overseas, even
as we hit their leadership,

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even as we go after their
infrastructure, even as we

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take key personnel off the
field, even as we disrupt

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external plots -- that one
of the biggest challenges we

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are going to have is this
kind of propaganda and

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perversions of Islam that
you see generated on the

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Internet, and the capacity
for that to seep into the

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minds of troubled
individuals or weak

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individuals, and seeing
them motivated then to take

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actions against people here
in the United States and

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elsewhere in the
world that are tragic.

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And so countering this
extremist ideology is

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increasingly going to be
just as important as making

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sure that we are disrupting
more extensive plots

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engineered from the outside.

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We are also going to have to
have to make sure that we

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think about the risks we are
willing to take by being so

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lax in how we make very
powerful firearms available

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to people in this country.

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And this is something that
obviously I've talked about

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for a very long time.

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My concern is that we start
getting into a debate, as

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has happened in the past,
which is an either/or debate.

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And the suggestion is either
we think about something as

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terrorism and we ignore the
problems with easy access to

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firearms, or it's all about
firearms and we ignore the

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role -- the very real role
that that organizations like

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ISIL have in generating
extremist views inside

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this country.

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And it's not an either/or.

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It's a both/and.

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We have to go after these
terrorist organizations and

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hit them hard.

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We have to counter
extremism.

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But we also have to make
sure that it is not easy for

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somebody who decides they
want to harm people in this

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country to be able to obtain
weapons to get at them.

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And my hope is, is that over
the next days and weeks that

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we are being sober about how
we approach this problem,

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that we let the facts
get determined by our

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investigators, but we also
do some reflecting in terms

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of how we can best tackle
what is going to be a very

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challenging problem not just
here in this country, but

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around the world.

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Again, my final point is
just to extend our deepest

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sympathies to the families
of those who were affected

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and to send our prayers to
those who are surviving and

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are in hospitals right now,
and their family members

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hoping that they get
better very soon.

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But in the meantime, you can
anticipate sometime around

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noon that Director Comey
and Deputy Attorney General

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Yates will provide you with
a more full briefing

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about this.

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Okay?

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The Press: Mr. President, is there

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anything more to the LBGT angle to this?

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The President: Well, I
think we don't yet know

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the motivations.

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But here's what we do know
-- is organizations like

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ISIL or organizations like
al Qaeda, or those who have

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perverted Islam and created
these radical, nihilistic,

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vicious organizations, one
of the groups that they

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target are gays and lesbians
because they believe that

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they do not abide by their
attitudes towards sexuality.

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Now, we also know these are
organizations that think

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it's fine to take captive
women and enslave them and

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rape them.

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So there clearly are
connections between the

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attitudes in an organization
like this and their

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attitudes towards tolerance
and pluralism and a belief

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that all people are created
equally regardless of

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sexual orientation.

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That is something
threatening to them.

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Women being empowered
is threatening to them.

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So, yes, I'm sure we
will find that there are

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connections -- regardless of
the particular motivations

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of this killer -- there are
connections between this

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vicious, bankrupt ideology
and general attitudes

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towards gays and lesbians.

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And unfortunately, that's
something that the LGBT

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community is subject to not
just by ISIL but by a lot of

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groups that purport to speak
on behalf of God around

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the world.

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The Press: What are your thoughts

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about the fact that after

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all of these incidents over
these years, that there has

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not been any move to reform
gun control in this country?

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The President: April, I
think you know what I think

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about it.

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The fact that we make it
this challenging for law

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enforcement, for example,
even to get alerted that

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somebody who they are
watching has purchased a gun

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-- and if they do get
alerted, sometimes it's hard

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for them to stop them from
getting a gun -- is crazy.

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It's a problem.

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And we have to, I think,
do some soul-searching.

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But again, the danger here
is, is that then it ends up

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being the usual
political debate.

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And the NRA and the gun
control folks say that, oh,

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Obama doesn't want to
talk about terrorism.

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And if you talk about
terrorism, then people say

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why aren't you looking at
issues of gun control.

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The point is, is that if
we have self-radicalized

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individuals in this country,
then they are going to be

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very difficult oftentimes
to find ahead of time.

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And how easy it is for them
to obtain weapons is, in

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some cases, going to make
a difference as to whether

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they're able to carry out
attacks like this or not.

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And we make it very easy for
individuals who are troubled

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or disturbed or want to
engage in violent acts to

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get very powerful
weapons very quickly.

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And that's a problem.

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It's a problem regardless
of their motivations.

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It's a problem for a young
man who can walk into a

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church in South Carolina
and murder nine people who

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offered to pray with him.

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It's a problem when an angry
young man on a college

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campus decides to shoot
people because he

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feels disrespected.

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It's certainly a problem
when we have organizations

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like ISIL or al Qaeda who
are actively trying to

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promote violence and are
doing so very effectively

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over the Internet, because
we know that at some point

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there are going to be, out
of 300 million, there are

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going to be some individuals
who find for whatever reason

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that kind of horrible
propaganda enticing.

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And if that happens, and
that person can get a

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weapon, that's a problem.