BSO Sheriff, Panel Take Up Gun Control & Mental Illness
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) -- A violent trend gripping the country with fear and grief is prompting a conversation at home on how to stop the massacres.
All this a day after the mass shooting in San Bernardino, California that killed at least 14 people - the deadliest so far in 2015.
A panel gathered Thursday morning that including Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
As a group they took up various questions including if individuals diagnosed with mental issues are more likely to commit crimes using guns among other topics.
"I feel very strongly that there's three members of our society that shouldn't have guns. We need to keep guns away from our children. We need to keep guns away from convicted felons and we need to keep guns away form those suffering from mental illness," said Sheriff Israel.
While police in California investigate what motivated the suspects in yesterday's shooting, Sheriff Israel says his team is on high alert.
"You hope and pray it doesn't come to your counties, your cities, but you prepare. You prepare through what can you do to stop it and how you respond to it and we do that all the time," said Sheriff Israel.
As for shootings in the rest of the United States, mass shootings are now averaging at one every day.
"We have a pattern now of mass shootings in this country that has no parallel anywhere else in the world," said President Barack Obama.
Following the massacre, President Obama publicly offered his condolences for the 17th time since he took office and called for stricter gun laws.
"A common sense gun safety laws," said the president.
