California Man Offers Free Gun Safety Classes to Church Personnel

A Northern California man is reportedly offering free gun safety classes to religious leaders.

Geof Peabody, who owns a gun range in Placerville, near Sacramento, told CBS News that he’s provided the training to some 500 ministers and church security teams over the past eight years.

“Safe and saved,” Peabody told CBS News. “We can accomplish both with the right training.”

Sacramento television station KOVR also covered Peabody’s story, reporting that the owner saw “a dramatic increase” in interest in recent months. Peabody told KOVR a recent class attracted nine different churches, who collectively sent about 25 students to learn introductory training.

The classes cover more than firing weapons. Peabody told KOVR he also teaches his clients certain defense techniques, which can be used to stop someone else from shooting.

The news comes at a time when America is feeling particularly jittery.

A recent Public Religion Research Institute poll, conducted in the wake of the San Bernardino mass shootings, found that 47 percent of Americans believe they or someone in their family will be the victim of a terrorist attack. And data available on Google’s website indicates that more Americans have performed searches for concealed carry permits, which allow people to carry hidden handguns in public, this month than they have at any other point in the past 11 years.

CBS News reported Peabody’s graduates can carry concealed weapons, and many of them bring their guns to church. In addition to San Bernardino, another incident is undoubtedly fresh in the minds of some of the church personnel who receive training from Peabody. Nine people were killed when a gunman opened fire at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, back in June.

But there is conflicting evidence on whether concealed carry permits actually curb gun violence, particularly in chaotic active-shooter situations like those in San Bernardino and Charleston, as well as conflicting ideologies about whether firearms belong in church under any circumstance.

Prosecutors Charge Farook’s Friend With Buying San Bernardino Weapons

A friend of one of the people responsible for the Dec. 2 mass shooting in California has been charged in connection with the attacks, as well as for plotting other unrelated terrorist acts.

Enrique Marquez Jr. was arrested Thursday, the Department of Justice said in a news release.

The 24-year-old is accused of unlawfully buying two assault rifles that his longtime friend, Syed Rizwan Farook, and Farook’s wife, Tashfeen Malik, used to kill 14 people and injure 21 more during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers on Dec. 2 in San Bernardino. He was also accused of playing a role in plotting attacks with Farook in 2011 and 2012, plans they later abandoned.

Marquez was expected to appear in federal court later Thursday.

The official charges against him included conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, making a false statement about purchasing firearms, and immigration fraud, prosecutors said.

“While there currently is no evidence that Mr. Marquez participated in the Dec. 2, 2015 attack or had advance knowledge of it, his prior purchase of the firearms and ongoing failure to warn authorities about Farook’s intent to commit mass murder had fatal consequences,” U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said in a statement announcing the arrests.

Prosecutors said Marquez moved to Riverside around 2005 and lived next door to Farook, who introduced him to Islam. Farook told Marquez about his radical views, prosecutors said, and Marquez converted to the religion in 2007. By 2011, prosecutors said Marquez “spent most of his time” with Farook, listening, watching and reading various radical Islamic materials.

Prosecutors said Farook and Marquez began planning terrorist attacks in 2011, and that Marquez admitted the attack was “designed to maximize the number of casualties that could be inflicted.” Marquez allegedly told prosecutors he and Farook wanted to throw pipe bombs into a cafeteria at Riverside Community College, where they had both studied, and shoot people as they fled. Prosecutors also allege Marquez told them about a terrorist plot involving pipe bombs and guns that would have targeted a stretch of California Route 91 during rush-hour traffic.

Prosecutors allege that Marquez bought two assault rifles between 2011 and 2012 that he claimed were for himself, but he was actually going to give to Farook for those attacks. Marquez allegedly told prosecutors he agreed to buy the guns because he appeared Caucasian and Farook appeared Middle Eastern. Marquez is also accused of buying explosive smokeless powder to aid “his and Farook’s plans to create bombs and commit mass killings,” according to the news release.

Prosecutors allege Marquez went to firing ranges with Farook to practice for those attacks in early 2012, but Marquez “distanced himself” from Farook in late 2012 after other people in Southern California were arrested for terrorism charges in November.

Authorities said that forensic tests confirmed two of the guns Farook and Malik used in San Bernardino were the ones Marquez allegedly purchased.

Additionally, prosecutors charged Marquez with entering into “a sham marriage with a member of Farook’s extended family so that she could obtain legal status in the United States.” Marquez’s alleged wife paid him $200 a month, prosecutors claim.

In one more detail, prosecutors illuminated published media reports saying that Malik pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State on the morning of the attack.

In the news release, prosecutors allege “a Facebook account associated with Malik searched for” Islamic State materials that morning, and that the account posted “We pledge allegiance to Khalifa bu bkr al bhaghdadi al quraishi,” which prosecutors believe is the publicized pledge.

The FBI said the investigation into the San Bernardino shooting is ongoing.

Homeland Security Scrapped Proposal to Check Applicants’ Social Media Profiles

Homeland Security officials debated a policy that would have allowed authorities to review the social media profiles of foreigners who applied to come to the United States as far back as 2011, but ultimately decided against the idea, MSNBC reported on Thursday.

The news agency published a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services memo detailing a proposed policy that would have allowed officials to utilize social networking sites “for purposes of verifying information related to applications and petitions.” The memo indicates doing so could help detect “criminal activity, or egregious public safety or national security concerns.”

The memo itself isn’t dated, though MSNBC reported it was ultimately rejected in 2011 after a lengthy process that included multiple revisions. Speaking anonymously to the news agency, a former senior Homeland Security official said it was “unusual” for the policy to go through the revision process, which took about a year to complete, only for it to be axed by senior officials.

Public demand to check foreign applicant’s social media profiles before allowing them to come to the United States has surged after the Dec. 2 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Tashfeen Malik and Syed Rizwan Farook killed 14 people and wounded 21 more during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers in what President Barack Obama has called an act of terrorism.

FBI Director James Comey has testified before federal lawmakers and said the shooters were communicating about jihad and martyrdom over the Internet as far back as 2013, yet Malik was still able to obtain a fiancee visa and move to the United States despite those communications. She was living in Saudi Arabia when she met Farook, a U.S. citizen, on an online dating website.

Since then, lawmakers have said they’re crafting bills that would make checking an applicant’s social media profiles, or at least the publicly available information on them, a required part of the visa screening process. While there are some pilot programs for those reviews in place, ABC News has reported it’s still not a widespread policy, partly due to civil liberties concerns.

But the memo obtained by MSNBC indicates that federal policymakers had discussed allowing employees to review applicants’ social media profiles at least four years before the San Bernardino shootings.

The memo indicates that “many social networking websites” actually could not be accessed from Homeland Security computers, as the department’s security controls blocked them. The memo doesn’t specify what websites could not be viewed by employees, but says that “access to certain sites may be blocked to maintain employee productivity or to reduce security risks to agency networks.”

The policy would have allowed “certain agency personnel to access social networking sites for verification purposes.” The memo notes that while some sites have privacy settings that hide information, it’s possible for anyone on the Internet to see certain personal details or posts. The memo indicated that officials would only be allowed to review “publicly available information.”

The axed policy would have allowed applicants “to explain or refute any derogatory information obtained from social networking sites,” before any immigration ruling, according to the memo.

Interest in Concealed Carry Permits Hits New High after California Shootings

More Americans have performed Google searches for concealed carry permits this month than at any other point in the past 11 years, according to data published on the company’s website.

The spike in concealed carry permit searches comes in the wake of the Dec. 2 mass shooting that left 14 people dead and 21 more injured in San Bernardino, California. The husband-and-wife team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers in what President Barack Obama has declared an act of terrorism.

People who possess valid concealed carry permits can carry hidden handguns in public areas.

The previous all-time high for concealed carry searches came in December 2012, the month in which Adam Lanza killed 20 schoolchildren and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The total concealed carry searches in that month were about 60 percent of what they were in the first 11 days of this month, according to Google Trends data.

There’s also been a documented rise in the number of people who actually obtain the permits.

The Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) says that about 12.8 million Americans held concealed carry permits in July, nearly tripling the 4.6 million million who held such permits in 2007. The CPRC says that 1.7 million new concealed carry permits were issued in the past year alone, and the 15.4 percent year-over-year increase was the largest ever recorded in history.

Near the site of the shooting, some people wasted little time to get new concealed carry permits.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the San Bernardino County sheriff’s department received 75 applications for concealed carry permits the weekend following the shooting, which was seven times higher than usual. In neighboring Orange County, sheriff’s deputies told the newspaper that they received about 100 additional applications the weekend after the attack.

The news comes amid a new survey released Thursday by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) that found that 47 percent of Americans fear they or someone in their family will be the victim of a terrorist attack. That’s a 14 percent increase from one year ago. The PRRI survey also indicated 3 in 4 Americans said terrorism was a “critical issue” in the nation.

As permit interest surged, some were trying to prevent guns from falling into the wrong hands.

Connecticut’s governor, Dannel P. Malloy, said Thursday he would sign an executive order that prohibits selling firearms to anyone on a government watchlist. It still needs federal approval.

San Bernardino Suspects Spoke of ‘Jihad and Martyrdom’ Two Years Ago

The husband and wife responsible for last week’s mass shooting in California were discussing ‘jihad and martyrdom’ together as early as 2013, FBI Director James Comey said Wednesday.

Comey unveiled the information while he was speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Investigators have been working to determine the circumstances that led the husband-and-wife team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik to open fire during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers, killing 14 people and injuring 21 others exactly one week ago.

President Barack Obama has called the shooting an act of terrorism, and investigators had said the suspects were radicalized for “quite some time,” though Comey’s revelation to the lawmakers provided the most specific account yet of how and when the suspects became radicalized.

Comey said the FBI’s investigation “indicates that they were actually radicalized before they started courting or dating each other online,” dispelling notions that one suspect radicalized the other. By the end of 2013, Comey said the two “were talking to each other about jihad and martyrdom” online before their engagement, marriage and Malik’s move to the United States.

Yet none of these conversations apparently triggered any red flags, as Comey had previously told reporters that neither Farook nor Malik was on the FBI’s radar screen at the time of the attack.

Farook, a United States citizen, was born to Pakistani parents in Illinois. He met Malik, a Pakistan native who was living in Saudi Arabia, on an online dating website. Malik originally came to the United States under a “fiancee visa” waiver program that has been highly scrutinized since the attack, with federal lawmakers and Obama calling for reviews to the program. The fact that Malik was apparently radicalized before she came to America could spur further scrutiny.

While authorities have not linked Farook or Malik to being part of a larger terrorist group, investigators are trying to uncover what initially led the suspects to become radicalized and whether they were inspired by the work any foreign terrorist groups.

Police have said they recovered at least 4,500 rounds of ammunition and 19 pipes that could have been used to produce bombs from the couple’s home in Redlands, California.

Farook and Malik died in a shootout with police, leaving behind a 6-month-old daughter.

Investigation into California Shootings Continues

The investigation into the mass shooting that left 14 people dead and 21 more injured last week continued on Tuesday, though authorities had yet to hold a news conference on any updates.

Authorities have said the husband-and-wife team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire in San Bernardino, California, during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers last Wednesday. President Barack Obama and FBI officials have declared the shooting an act of terrorism and said the suspects were radicalized, but officials have yet to publicly say they’ve found any evidence that the two were part of a foreign terrorist group or a broader conspiracy.

While police continued their investigation, news agencies reported some new information.

Citing unnamed informed sources, Fox News, Reuters and the Los Angeles Times reported that $28,500 was deposited into Farook’s bank account in the weeks before the shooting. Authorities have said they were trying to see if anyone helped the couple plan the attack, but three unnamed sources told Reuters the money trail doesn’t appear to link Farook or Malik to a terrorist group.

Reuters and the Los Angeles Times reported the money was a loan, with the Los Angeles Times reporting that a pair of unnamed federal officials said that could explain how the couple was able to acquire the materials they used in the attack. Authorities have said they recovered at least 4,500 rounds of ammunition at the pair’s home, as well as parts that could make 19 pipe bombs.

Authorities were investigating how the suspects became radicalized and whether they were inspired by the work of other terrorists. The FBI has said Farook and Malik both engaged in target practice ahead of the attacks, in one instance within days of the deadly rampage.

Farook and Malik died in a shootout with police, leaving behind a six-month-old daughter.

Farook was a U.S. citizen who was born to Pakistani parents in Illinois, while Malik was a Pakistan native who was living in Saudi Arabia. It’s been widely reported that the two met on an online dating website. During his speech from the Oval Office on Sunday, Obama called for federal officials to review the “fiancee visa” waiver program that Malik used to enter the country.

Obama Vows U.S. ‘Will Destroy’ ISIS, Other Terrorist Groups

The United States “will destroy” the Islamic State “and any other terrorist organization that tries to harm us,” President Barack Obama said in a televised speech to the nation on Sunday night.

Speaking from the Oval Office, the president said the country faces new challenges in its 14-year war on terrorism but remains equipped to overcome the threat the ideology poses to America.

The speech came days after the husband-and-wife team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people and wounded 21 others in a mass shooting at San Bernardino, California. The brazen attack occurred during a holiday party for Farook’s coworkers on Wednesday.

“This was an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people,” Obama declared in the speech.

Obama went on to say that other shootings at military installations in Fort Hood, Texas, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, were also acts of terrorism. The president said the nature of these attacks represent a fundamental shift in the face of terrorism, and the challenge it presents.

He said the country has been at war with terrorists since 9/11, when terrorists hijacked four airplanes in an elaborate plot that ultimately killed nearly 3,000 people. America has beefed up its security and intelligence operations and disrupted a host of terrorist plots in the years since.

“Over the last few years, however, the terrorist threat has evolved into a new phase,” Obama said. “As we’ve become better at preventing complex, multi-faceted attacks like 9/11, terrorists turn to less-complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society.”

While noting there was no evidence that Farook and Malik were directed by a terrorist group or that they were part of a broader conspiracy in planning and executing Wednesday’s shootings, Obama said “it is clear that the two of them had gone down the dark path of radicalization, a perverted interpretation of Islam that calls for war against America and the West.”

The FBI echoed that statement on Monday, with an official saying at a news conference that the bureau had evidence that Farook and Malik had been radicalized “for quite some time.” The probe into the shootings and the circumstances around them continued Monday afternoon.

In his Sunday night speech, Obama reaffirmed the country’s commitment to fighting terrorism.

He said “our military will continue to hunt down terrorist plotters in any country where it is necessary,” and noted that 65 countries have joined an American-led coalition that is carrying out airstrikes against ISIS interests. The United States is also providing training to forces in Iraq and Syria that are fighting ISIS militants on the ground, and deploying special ops in both countries. Coalition forces are working to disrupt ISIS in other ways, like cutting off its money supply (largely obtained through oil smuggling) and preventing it from adding manpower.

Obama noted global efforts to combat ISIS have increased since Nov. 13, when gunmen and suicide bombers linked to the group killed 130 people in multiple terrorist attacks in Paris. In particular, he said the exchange of intelligence between allies has surged since those attacks.

The president said technology has made it easier for groups like the Islamic State to corrupt the minds of people around the world. The terrorists are frequently able to use social media and the Internet to share their radical messages. Obama called for technology companies and law enforcement officials to make it more difficult for terrorists to hide behind computer screens.

He also called for the departments of State and Homeland Security to review the ‘fiancee visa’ waiver program that Malik, a Pakistani native who was living in Saudi Arabia, used to enter the United States. It’s been widely reported that she met Farook, a U.S. citizen, on an online dating site.

Obama also called for stricter gun laws, like making it more difficult to purchase assault weapons like the ones used in San Bernardino. He noted authorities simply can’t identify every potential mass shooter, but “what we can do — and must do — is make it harder for them to kill.”

While Obama outlined the steps America is taking against ISIS and to prevent future terrorist attacks at home, he also laid out a list of things that America should not do. Those included entering a ground war in the Middle East, which could be lengthy and ultimately play into the Islamic State’s hand. He also said the country shouldn’t fear or discriminate against Muslims, noting that the Islamic State “doesn’t speak for Islam” and was “part of a cult of death.”

“The threat from terrorism is real, but we will overcome it,” Obama said in his televised comments. “We will destroy (ISIS) and any other organization that tries to harm us.”

FBI Investigating California Mass Shooting as Terrorist Act

The FBI is investigating the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, “as an act of terrorism.”

David Bowdich, the assistant FBI director at the bureau’s Los Angeles office, made the announcement at a news conference on Friday, saying the bureau had taken over the investigation’s lead from local authorities.

The revelation came two days after the husband-and-wife team of Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people and injured 21 others when they opened fire during a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center. They were later killed in a shootout with police.

Bowdich told reporters that investigators found evidence that indicated “extensive planning,” as well as mentioning the couple’s extensive stockpile of ammunition and explosive devices.

Speaking at a later news conference in Washington, FBI Director James Comey told reporters there was evidence that suggested the Muslim suspects became radicalized, but no evidence had surfaced that suggested that the shooters were part of a terrorist group. However, Comey did say there were indications that the couple might have been inspired by foreign terrorist organizations.

“There’s a lot of evidence in this case that doesn’t quite make sense,” Comey told reporters, adding that investigators were still wading through a large amount of electronic evidence.

Neither Bowdich nor Comey publicly confirmed multiple published reports that said Malik pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State through a post on social media on the morning of the attack.

CNN, FoxNews, The New York Times and The Washington Post were among the media outlets reporting that sources familiar with the investigation told them about the Facebook post.

Bowdich told reporters at the news conference that Farook and Malik “attempted to destroy their digital fingerprints,” and investigators discovered two “crushed” cell phones in trash cans near the crime scene. He said authorities were working to extract data from those cell phones.

“We do hope that the digital fingerprints that were left by these two individuals will take us towards their motivation,” Bowdich told reporters. “That evidence is incredibly important.”

Comey told reporters neither Farook nor Malik was on the FBI’s radar at the time of the shooting.

It was widely reported that Farook worked at the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, which was holding a holiday party at the Inland Regional Center at the time of the attack. Police said Farook left the party angrily, then returned with his wife and opened fire.

Farook was born to Pakistani parents in Illinois and met Malik, a Pakistan native who was living in Saudi Arabia, on an online dating site, the New York Times has reported. The couple had a six-month-old daughter who they left with her grandmother on the morning of the attack.

Police have said they found at least 4,500 additional rounds of ammunition and a dozen “pipe-bomb-type devices” at the Redlands, California, residence of the suspects.

The FBI released the crime scene and the couple’s landlord somewhat bizarrely opened it up to the media on Friday morning, leading to several news organizations to take cameras through the residence and broadcast live images of reporters examining the suspects’ personal belongings.

California shooting the latest in a long list of deadly U.S. rampages

REUTERS – Fourteen people were killed and 14 were wounded on Wednesday when at least one person opened fire at a social services agency in the Southern California city of San Bernardino, the latest of many deadly rampages in the United States.

Below are some of the worst shooting incidents in recent years, ranked by the number of dead, including the gunman:

Virginia Tech

April 16, 2007 – A gunman slaughters 32 people and kills himself at Virginia Tech, a university in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Sandy Hook

Dec. 14, 2012 – A gunman kills 20 children and six adults and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Columbine

April 20, 1999 – Two heavily armed teenagers go on a rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, shooting 12 students and a teacher to death and wounding more than 20 others before taking their own lives.

Immigration center

April 3, 2009 – A Vietnamese immigrant opens fire at an immigrant services center in Binghamton, New York, killing 13 people and wounding four. He then kills himself.

Fort Hood

Nov. 5, 2009 – A gunman opens fire at Fort Hood, a U.S. Army base in Texas, killing 13 people and wounding 32. The gunman, an Army major and psychiatrist, was sentenced to death for the rampage.

Washington Navy Yard

Sept. 16, 2013 – A former Navy reservist working as a government contractor kills 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard. Eight people are injured. The gunman was killed by police.

Colorado movie theater

July 20, 2012 – A masked gunman kills 12 people and wounds 70 when he opens fire on moviegoers at a midnight premiere of the Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, a Denver suburb. A former graduate student is sentenced to life in prison for the rampage.

Washington, D.C., snipers

October 2002 – Two men ambush 13 people, killing 10 of them, in a string of sniper-style shootings that terrorize the Washington area.

Oregon College

Oct. 1, 2015 – A gunman bursts into Umpqua Community College in southwest Oregon and opens fire, killing nine people and wounding seven others before police shoot him to death.

Charleston church

June 17, 2015 – A white supremacist gunman kills nine black churchgoers during a Bible study session at a historic, predominantly black church in Charleston, South Carolina. The suspect is awaiting trial.

Waco bikers

May 17, 2015 – Rival motorcycle gangs kill nine at a restaurant in Waco, Texas. More than 170 people are arrested.

Grandfather kills family

Sept. 18, 2014 – Man kills his daughter and six grandchildren in Bell, Florida, and then kills himself.

Oikos University

April 2, 2012 – A former student kills seven students at Oikos University, a small Christian school in Oakland, California. The suspect is awaiting trial.

Sikh temple

Aug. 5, 2012 – A white supremacist walks into a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, shoots six worshippers and wounds four others, including a policeman. The gunman kills himself after being shot by a police officer.

Florida apartment

July 26, 2013 – A man goes on a shooting spree at an apartment complex in Hialeah, Florida, killing six people. The shooter is killed by police.

Congresswoman assassination attempt

Jan. 8, 2011 – Then-U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords is the target of an assassination attempt by a gunman in Tucson, Arizona, in which six people are killed and 13, including Giffords, are wounded.

Planned Parenthood

Nov. 27, 2015 – A gunman storms a Planned Parenthood health clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing three people and wounding nine. Police arrest the gunman.

Television journalists

Aug. 26, 2015 – A reporter and a cameraman are fatally ambushed by a former employee of their Roanoke, Virginia, television station while they are interviewing a woman on live TV. The woman is wounded. The gunman later kills himself as police pursue him on a highway hours after the shooting.

(Compiled by Lisa Shumaker in Chicago; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

California Cities Could Disappear Due To Debts

California cities are increasingly considering filing for bankruptcy or even folding after San Bernardino became the third California city in the last month to seek bankruptcy protection. Multiple cities have been slashing budgets and employee salaries in an attempt to reign in debts.

Michael Coleman, fiscal policy advisor for the California League of Cities, warns that bankruptcy might not be the only thing happening in the near future. Continue reading