Obama: No evidence that Orlando killer was directed externally

President Obama said on Monday that there was no clear evidence that the killer in Sunday’s massacre in Orlando, Florida was directed externally. The president was talking following a briefing from FBI Director Comey, as well as Deputy Attorney General Yates and the rest of his national security team.

Obama said, ” It does appear that, at the last minute, he announced allegiance to ISIL, but there is no evidence so far that he was in fact directed by ISIL.  And there also at this stage is no direct evidence that he was part of a larger plot.  In that sense, it appears to be similar to what we saw in San Bernardino, but we don’t yet know.  And this is part of what is going to be important in terms of the investigation.”

Obama noted the ease at which the killer was able to obtain the weapons used in the incident saying, “As far as we can tell right now, this is certainly an example of the kind of homegrown extremism that all of us have been so concerned about for a very long time.  It also appears that he was able to obtain these weapons legally because he did not have a criminal record that, in some ways, would prohibit him from purchasing these weapons.  It appears that one of those weapons he was able to just carry out of the store — an assault rifle, a handgun — a Glock — which had a lot of clips in it.  He was apparently required to wait for three days under Florida law.  But it does indicate the degree to which it was not difficult for him to obtain these kinds of weapons.”

Obama continued, “We are also going to have to have to make sure that we think about the risks we are willing to take by being so lax in how we make very powerful firearms available to people in this country.  And this is something that obviously I’ve talked about for a very long time.

“We have to go after these terrorist organizations and hit them hard.  We have to counter extremism.  But we also have to make sure that it is not easy for somebody who decides they want to harm people in this country to be able to obtain weapons to get at them.”

At the end of the briefing the president was asked whether there was anything more to the LBGT angle to this?

“Well, I think we don’t yet know the motivations, the president responded.  “But here’s what we do know — is organizations like ISIL or organizations like al Qaeda, or those who have perverted Islam and created these radical, nihilistic, vicious organizations, one of the groups that they target are gays and lesbians because they believe that they do not abide by their attitudes towards sexuality.

“Now, we also know these are organizations that think it’s fine to take captive women and enslave them and rape them.  So there clearly are connections between the attitudes in an organization like this and their attitudes towards tolerance and pluralism and a belief that all people are created equally regardless of sexual orientation.  That is something threatening to them.  Women being empowered is threatening to them.

“So, yes, I’m sure we will find that there are connections — regardless of the particular motivations of this killer — there are connections between this vicious, bankrupt ideology and general attitudes towards gays and lesbians.  And unfortunately, that’s something that the LGBT community is subject to not just by ISIL but by a lot of groups that purport to speak on behalf of God around the world.”