Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ill.) said on Thursday that white males have conducted most of the terrorist attacks in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001.
In a radio clip first reported by Andrew Kaczynski of Buzzfeed, Brown said that most attacks have been shootings at movie theaters and schools.
"Since the beginning of the Bush administration when we were attacked, Sept. 11, we’ve not had any major terrorist attacks in this country," Brown said on WAKR radio. We’ve had individual crazy people, of normally; they look more like me than they look like Middle Easterners. They are generally white males who have shot up people in movie theaters and schools. Those are terrorist attacks, they’re just different kinds of terrorists."
Brown said he had faith in government agencies to do whatever is necessary to prevent a terrorist attack on the homeland.
"I think most of us recognize we’re concerned, but we also know that we trust the FBI and our security forces to do this right," Brown said.
Brown praised the U.S. government's efforts in keeping Americans safe.
"But we have since the early Bush days, when Sept. 11 happened, through the rest of the Bush years, and through the almost six years of the Obama administration, we’ve kept this country safe," Brown said.
As he continued to commend all levels of government for their vigilance, Brown said the U.S. has not kept Americans safe from "crazy gunmen."
"Individual people shouldn’t be fearful, because by and large our government, the federal government—people always talk, obviously they don’t trust the feds, whatever. The federal government and local communities have done a pretty good job at keeping us safe," Brown said. "Not keeping us safe from crazy gunmen coming into schools and movie theaters sometimes but certainly keeping us safe from foreigners attacking this country."
Brown stopped short of linking the Paris attacks with the gun control fight happening in Congress, unlike some of his colleagues.