Trump blamed 'gruesome video games' and 'mentally ill monsters' for mass violence in his first public remarks since two mass shootings
President Donald Trump called for "bipartisan solutions" to combat mass violence in first public remarks following two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio that claimed 29 lives over the weekend.
- On Saturday, a gunman opened fire in an El Paso Wal-mart, killing 20 people and injuring dozens more in an incident that is being investigated as an act of domestic terror.
In his remarks, Trump blamed a number of factors including video games, mental illness, and racist hate for the shootings, and called for a number of legislative measures to reduce gun violence and stop potential shooters in their tracks.
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President Donald Trump called for "bipartisan solutions" to combat mass violence in first public remarks following two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio that claimed 29 lives over the weekend.
On Saturday, a gunman opened fire in an El Paso Wal-mart, killing 20 people and injuring dozens more in an incident that is being investigated as an act of domestic terror.
And on the early hours of Sunday morning, a man in Dayton, Ohio is accused of killing 9 people, including his sister, and wounded several others.
In his remarks, Trump blamed a number of factors including video games, mental illness, and racist hate for the shootings, and called for a number of legislative measures to reduce gun violence.
"The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate. In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white house supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America," Trump said.
Trump further laid the blame on the internet and video games for feeding into violence, saying, "the perils of the internet and social media cannot be ignored and they will not be ignored."
Trump suggested a number of actions he believed the federal government should take to reduce mass shootings, calling for collaboration between state and federal agencies to "develop tools that can detect mass shooters before they strike."
The president also endorsed more state governments adopting laws that allow police to remove guns from people deemed a threat, saying, "we must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms and that if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process. That is why I have called for red flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders."
Trump did not, however, advocate for federal universal background checks in his remarks, a measure that holds overwhelming bipartisan support.