PAHRUMP — Not only mosques, but schools, supermarkets, car repair shops and "any place where radicalization is going on" should be monitored in light of terrorist threats, Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said Monday while campaigning in Nevada.
The retired neurosurgeon addressed the need for increased surveillance of people in the United States during an appearance about an hour west of Las Vegas.
"I would say we use our intelligence and we monitor anything: our mosques, a church, a museum, a supermarket," he said, later adding that monitoring would come after multiple reports or indications of radical activity. "We live in a very different time right now."
National security has become a focus in the presidential race over the last week after terrorists launched a series of deadly attacks in Paris.
Carson on Monday also backed up claims by Republican rival Donald Trump, who has repeatedly charged that he saw video footage of thousands of Muslims in New Jersey cheering the Sept. 11 attacks. The claim has been refuted by local officials as untrue. But asked Monday if he had seen footage of cheering Muslims in New Jersey, Carson said he had seen it on the news.
"There are going to be people that respond inappropriately," he said, adding that characterizing all Muslims as "bad people" because of the alleged reaction would be a stretch.
As for surveillance, Carson wouldn't elaborate on what increased monitoring would entail. He said he wasn't concerned about violating a person's right to privacy.
"The thing that will destroy our country is if we're overly concerned with violating someone's sensibilities while we allow blatant activity to occur that would violate all of our sensibilities," he said.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy