Trump’s pledge for action after mass shootings that left 30 dead skirts specifics, gun control
Posted Aug 5, 2019 6:38 am.
Last Updated Aug 5, 2019 2:47 pm.
WASHINGTON (NEWS 1130) — Saying hate has no place in America, President Donald Trump had some strong words for the two men suspected in the weekend’s horrific mass shootings that left 30 people dead in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
But although there are growing calls for stricter gun control laws, he skirted the issue and gave no specifics.
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Instead, he focused his comments on condemning the shooters and hateful ideologies.
“In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hatred has no place in America,” he said, reading from a teleprompter.
The President didn’t address gun control or law reform, instead saying: “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.”
“We must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence and make sure that those people not only get treatment but when necessary involuntary confinement,” he said.
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He also touched on violence in video games, more resources for tracking hate online, and helping police deal more swiftly with shootings as they happen.
Trump blamed a culture in which violent video games and “dark recesses” of social media contribute to radicalizing perpetrators of mass shootings.
At one point, he mistakenly said the shooting happened in Toledo, instead of Dayton, Ohio.
He also directed the Department of Justice to seek and prioritize the enforcement of the death penalty in cases of hate crimes and mass shootings.
Earlier Monday morning, he wrote in two tweets: “Republicans and Democrats must come together to get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!”
….this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Trump should push the Republican-controlled Senate to take up the House’s background check bills.
“It took less than three hours for the president to back off his call for stronger background check legislation,” they said in a joint statement. “When he can’t mention guns while talking about gun violence, it shows the president remains prisoner to the gun lobby and the NRA.”
Former President Barack Obama tweeted out a statement Monday saying: “Until all of us stand up and insist on holding public officials accountable for changing our gun laws, these tragedies will keep happening.”
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 5, 2019
-With files from the Associated Press
