Obama decries 'pattern of mass shootings' that has no parallel

President Obama responds to the October shooting at an Oregon community college.

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

published 2 December 2015

President Obama was sitting down with CBS' Norah O'Donnell for a previously scheduled interview when news broke of the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. After being briefed, the president cautioned that it was too early to comment on who or why, but he did reiterate his call for gun reform.

"We have a pattern of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world," he said. "There's some steps we could take — not to eliminate every one of these mass shootings, but to improve the odds that they don't happen as frequently."

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Lauren Hansen produces The Weekâ€™s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.