US President Barack Obama has again called for tighter gun control laws in the United States following a mass shooting in California.

Speaking to CBS in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting in the southern Californian city of San Bernardino, Mr Obama said: “We have a pattern of mass shootings now in this country that has no parallels anywhere in the world.”

WATCH: Barack Obama speaks to CBS in aftermath of San Bernardino attack

Mr Obama was speaking with CBS for a pre-arranged interview that coincided with the shooting, and while he said there was little then known about the ongoing situation, there were steps to take – as he has said in the aftermath of other shooting incidents during his presidency.

“There is some steps we could take ... Common sense gun safety laws, stronger background checks,” were two examples he gave.

He also pointed to the fact that while there are strict controls over who cannot fly due to being on a no-fly list, but can still purchase a firearm legally.

“We have a no-fly list where those people can’t get on planes but those same people who we don’t allow to fly could go into a store right now in the US and buy a firearm and there’s nothing we can do to stop them. That’s a law that needs to be changed,” he said.

“My hope is that we are able to contain this shooting. We don’t know what the motives of the shooters are but we do know that we can make Americans safer and that we should come together at every level of bipartisan basis at every level of government to make these rare as opposed to normal.”

Returning to a point he has made repeatedly during his presidency in relation to mass shootings, Mr Obama pointed out that there is no other comparable country with the same level of mass shootings.

“We should never think that this is something that just happens in the ordinary course of events because it doesn’t happen with the same frequency in other countries,” he said.