President Trump Urges Action to Stop ‘Barbaric’ Mass Shootings, Calls on Nation to ‘Condemn Racism, Bigotry, and White Supremacy’

President Donald Trump delivered remarks at the White House Monday condemning the “evil” and “barbaric” mass shootings that occurred over the weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio which killed or wounded more than 80 people.

“We are outraged and sickened by this monstrous evil: the cruelty, the hatred, the malice, the bloodshed, and the terror. Our hearts are shattered for every family whose parents, children, husbands, and wives were ripped from their arms and their lives. America weeps for the fallen.”

Trump also expressed disdain for the ideology behind the white supremacist manifesto written by the El Paso shooter:

“In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul.”

Trump said his administration would take several steps to prevent mass shootings, including:

• Directing the Dept. of Justice & other federal agencies to work with social media companies to develop tools to detect potential mass shooters so that law enforcement can take action.
• Stopping the glorification of violence in our culture through video games and media.
• Reforming mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may be prone to violence so they can receive treatment and be involuntarily confined if necessary. “Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.”
• Preventing high-risk individuals from obtaining firearms and enacting extreme risk protection orders (aka “red flag laws”) to take them from dangerous individuals through “rapid due process”. 
• Requiring those convicted of federal hate crimes involving mass murders face the death penalty decisively & expeditiously “without years of needless delay.”

Trump pointed to the bipartisan Fix NICS Act & Stop School Violence Act which he signed into law last year as part of an omnibus spending bill, along with his administration’s bump stock ban, as examples of the reforms he wishes to pursue:

“I am open and ready to listen and discuss all ideas that will actually work and make a very big difference. Republicans and Democrats have proven that we can join together in a bipartisan fashion to address this plague… Now is the time to set destructive partisanship aside ― so destructive ― and find the courage to answer hatred with unity, devotion, and love.”

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: angela n. via Flickr / Creative Commons)