MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Alabama Governor Robert Bentley slammed President Barack Obama for his Sunday evening Oval Office address to the nation, which Bentley said served as little more than an attempted diversion from the President’s foreign policy failures.
“Tonight the President merely restated an existing policy and attempted to distract Americans from the pressing issue of protecting and securing our nation by continuing to emphasize a philosophical and highly political focus on more gun control,” Bentley said in a prepared statement. “Politicized solutions will not solve a national security threat.”
The President’s speech was in response to the latest terrorist attack on American soil, in which 14 people were killed and 21 more wounded by radical Islamic terrorists.
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“There are several steps that Congress should take right away,” President Obama said from the White House. “To begin with, Congress should act to make sure no one on a no-fly list is able to buy a gun. What could possibly be the argument for allowing a terrorist suspect to buy a semiautomatic weapon?”
Conservatives quickly responded by pointing out that the no-fly lists are far from reliable. A Democratic lawmaker recently noted that 72 Department of Homeland Security employees were even found on the list. Additionally, the lists could be used to take away Constitutional rights without due process, according to many conservative lawmakers and pundits.
The President again called for more stringent gun control, or in his words “gun safety, measures.
“We also need to make it harder for people to buy powerful assault weapons, like the ones that were used in San Bernardino,” he said. “I know there are some who reject any gun-safety measures, but the fact is that our intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, no matter how effective they are, cannot identify every would-be mass shooter, whether that individual was motivated by ISIL or some other hateful ideology.”
Governor Bentley said the President’s unwillingness to call the San Bernardino attacks “terrorism” for several days suggest he is not up to the task of defending the nation from radical jihadists.
“I have been very outspoken about my fast growing concern over the Obama Administration’s unwillingness and inability to address the fact that America must take serious and swift action against the terrorist threats we face,” he said. “Although five days later, President Obama finally acknowledged last week’s attack in California as one of terror, which many of us already suspected. Beyond that, I was disappointed in the President’s lack of strategy, vision or resolve to strike, stop and stymy the evil forces that are bent on destroying our great nation.”
Bentley also expressed frustration with the White House’s interaction with states in which the federal government plans to place Syrian refugees.
“I have become increasingly frustrated with the Obama Administration’s apparent resistance to solve or address such pressing issues as the vetting and processing of Syrian refugees who seek to enter our country,” he said. “This issue alone and the apparent circumventing of states in the vetting process causes me grave concern for our country. Alabamians can rest assure, as Governor I will use any and all means necessary to protect and secure our people to the best of my ability.”
“The President closed his address by saying, ‘Freedom is more powerful than fear,’” Bentley concluded. “As one of the leaders of the fifty United States, I am not motivated by fear, but rather by a discerning resolve to defend and protect the people who proudly call this state their home. I pray the President finds that same resolve.”
(This story has been updated with quotes from President Obama’s speech and more context surrounding Bentley’s response.)
