Obama Addresses Calif. Mass Shooting: 'We All Have A Part to Play'

U.S. President Barack Obama addressed the recent shooting that claimed 14 lives in San Bernardino County, California, saying that there is a possibility that the shooting was terrorist-related and suggesting that all Americans have a role to play in curbing gun violence. 

While speaking from the Oval Office on Thursday morning, the president told reporters that an ongoing investigation is necessary to determine the motive behind Wednesday afternoon's attack, in which Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik entered the Sn Bernardino County Public Health Department's Christmas Party and opened fire, killing 14 and inuring 17.

Obama said that while many Americans may think that they can do nothing to stop these mass shootings, he believes "We all have a part to play," suggesting that stricter gun control laws such as a universal background checks could help curb the frequency of mass shootings in the U.S.

The president stressed that although it is possible that Wednesday afternoon's attack was related to terrorism, it remains unclear pending further investigation.

"At this stage, we do not yet know why this terrible event occurred," the president said Thursday. "We do know that the two individuals who were killed were equipped with weapons and appeared to have access to additional weaponry in their homes. But we don't know why they did it."

"It is possible that this was terrorist-related but we don't know. And it's also possible that this was workplace related," the president added.

"We're going to have to, I think, search ourselves as a society to make sure that we can take basic steps that would make it make it harder, not impossible, but harder to individuals to get access to weapons," the president added while speaking from the Oval Office.