Presidential candidates react to California massacre



SEATTLE -- The San Bernardino, Calif., shooting that left 14 dead and 21 injured has already made its way into the presidential campaign.

Police say a married couple, U.S.-born Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, of Pakistan, carried out the shooting. They were killed in a shootout with police later.

On Thursday, all the major candidates weighed in on the tragedy.  And they are taking a very different approach to what caused Wednesday’s rampage.

“Radical Islamic terrorism,” is what Donald Trump called it.  “We have a president that refuses to use the term.  He refuses to say it.”

The GOP frontrunner argues that the problem is lack of will against ISIS and other terror groups, not the availability of guns.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz sounded the same theme.  “All of us are deeply concerned that this is yet another manifestation of terrorism,” he said on Thursday, “radical Islamic terrorism here at home"

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie argues the event underscores the global nature of the problem. “We need to come to grips with the idea that we are in the midst of the next world war,” he said.

But the Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, sided with the president, who argues that the way to end the string of mass shootings is to change laws.  “Just what will it take for Congress to overcome the intimidation of the gun lobby and do something?” she asked.

And in the U.S. Senate Thursday, lawmakers voted down two gun control measures.  One would deny people on the terror watch list from obtaining guns.  The other was universal background checks for gun purchases.