Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioFlorida senators pushing to keep Daylight Savings Time during pandemic Hillicon Valley: DOJ indicts Chinese, Malaysian hackers accused of targeting over 100 organizations | GOP senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal | QAnon awareness jumps in new poll Intelligence chief says Congress will get some in-person election security briefings MORE on Sunday said he bought a firearm on Christmas Eve in order to protect his family from a potential Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist attack.

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“I have a right to protect my family if someone were to come after us,” Rubio said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “In fact, if ISIS were to visit us, or our communities, at any moment, the last line of defense between ISIS and my family is the ability that I have to protect my family from them, or from a criminal, or anyone else who seeks to do us harm.”

“Millions of Americans feel that way,” he added.

Authorities said one of the attackers at a shooting in San Bernardino, Calif. last month pledged her allegiance to ISIS during the attack.

The terrorist group also took credit for an attack in Paris late last year that killed 130.

The Florida senator said Christmas Eve was the most convenient time to buy the gun.

“Well, first of all, I’m not home very often, so that was one of the few days that I was there,” he said.