US Republican presidential candidates have rushed to describe a mass shooting in California as a sign that Americans are at risk from homegrown Islamic militants, seizing on the country's deadliest massacre in three years before a motive had been firmly established.
Candidates spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual conference to warn of the threat from Islamic State militants and pledge to take steps against the group, a sign of how the deadly Paris attacks last month have transformed the campaign running up to the November 2016 election.
"There can be no doubt that this is an effort to destroy our very way of life," said Republican John Kasich, the governor of Ohio.
Many candidates were quick to link the killing of 14 people in San Bernardino, California on Wednesday to the possibility of homegrown radicals. It was the deadliest shooting in the US since 20 children and six adults were killed by a gunman at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in December 2012.
"If a centre for the mentally disabled in San Bernardino, California, can be a target for a terrorist attack, then every place in America is a target for a terrorist attack," said New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
A motive for Wednesday's attack is far from clear. The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Los Angeles Field Office probing the shooting said on Thursday it would be "irresponsible and premature" to say terrorism was the motive.
Authorities are trying to determine whether the couple accused of the killing, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, had links to Islamic militant groups abroad. The two were killed in a shootout with police after Wednesday's massacre.
President Barack Obama said the gunfire that erupted at a holiday party was possibly "terrorist-related" but could have been the result of a workplace dispute.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz joined the criticism, saying Obama had failed to take steps to protect the US and declared it is time for a "war-time" president.
Real estate mogul Donald Trump, who leads polls of Republican voters, said the California attack was likely related to what he called "radical Islamic terrorism". He faulted Obama for refusing to use that term.
Contrary to Democrats, who have called for tougher gun laws to prevent violent attacks, Cruz announced plans to hold a "Second Amendment" event in Iowa on Friday, in reference to the US constitutional right to bear arms.
Candidate Carly Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, said in a Fox News interview ahead of her speech on Thursday that "everything points to a terrorist attack, a homegrown terrorist attack" in San Bernardino.
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Senator Marco Rubio were careful not to declare the California attacks the result of homegrown jihadists while it was still being investigated.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said he would pursue an aggressive policy against Islamic State and "kill every one of these b******s that we can find."
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