California shooting doesn't fit Washington's gun debate

The details of the California massacre at a holiday party — pointing at a possible link to Islamic militants and raising questions about domestic extremism — quickly knocked both Republicans and Democrats off their talking points, upending what has become a grim and predictable ritual in American politics.

Revelations that the suspects may have communicated with extremists and stockpiled weapons awkwardly shifted the conversation from familiar arguments about gun laws to what, if anything, could be done to block radicalized, homegrown attackers from striking targets at home?

For Republicans, the issue could become quick campaign fodder — although they risk politicizing a national security threat, without offering a clear alternative.

After a briefing from his national security team, Obama asked the American people and "legislatures" to find a way to make "it a little harder" for people to get guns.

"[...] 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 harder — not impossible, but harder — for individuals to get access to weapons," he said.

[...] I will politicize this.

Because our inaction is a political decision that we're making, Obama said at a news conference.