Trump condemns white supremacy, vague on gun measures after US shootings

US President Donald Trump on Monday proposed tighter monitoring of the internet, mental health reform and wider use of the death penalty in response to two mass shootings over the weekend that killed 31 people in Texas and Ohio.

Trump, a Republican, who Democrats have accused of stoking racial divisions, said Americans must “condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” a day after Texas officials said racial hatred was a possible motive in the killings of 22 people in the southern border city of El Paso.

A 21-year-old white man has been charged with capital murder in Saturday’s shooting spree at a Walmart store. Police in El Paso cited a racist, anti-immigrant manifesto posted online shortly before the shooting, which they attributed to the suspect, Patrick Crusius.

Trump did not address accusations that his own anti-immigrant and racially charged comments have contributed to a rise in race tensions, nor did he call for broad gun control measures.

“These sinister ideologies must be defeated,” he said in remarks at the White House. “Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.”

Trump is planning to pay a visit to El Paso, on Wednesday, Mayor Dee Margo said on Monday.

Democrats, who have long pushed for stricter gun control, quickly accused Trump of hiding behind talk of mental health reform and the role of social media instead of committing to laws aimed at curbing gun violence in the United States.

Democratic presidential candidates vying to face Trump in the November 2020 presidential election blamed him for the attack in Texas, citing his rhetoric on immigrants.

Five of the Democrats were in San Diego on Monday for the annual conference of UnidosUS, the biggest Hispanic advocacy group in the United States. The group’s president, Janet Murguia, called Trump the “radicaliser-in-chief.”

Current Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, who was vice president under former President Barack Obama, directed his opening remarks at the gun attacks. “Mr President, it’s long past time you called it out: It’s hatred pure and simple fueled by rhetoric that’s so divisive it’s causing people to die,” Biden said.

Obama himself, who fought unsuccessfully for gun restrictions while in office, did not mention Trump by name when he urged Americans to reject divisive rhetoric.

“We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalises racist sentiments,” Obama said in a statement. “It has no place in our politics and our public life.”

Trump began his presidential campaign in 2015 by characterizing Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug smugglers, and he has repeatedly likened immigrants crossing the border from Mexico as an “invasion.” He also has called them “very bad thugs and gang members.”

Eight Mexican citizens were among the 22 people killed at the El Paso Walmart on Saturday by a man who authorities say drove from his home in the Dallas suburb of Allen, 660 miles (1,062 km) away, to El Paso, authorities said.

Just 13 hours later, another gunman killed nine people in downtown Dayton, Ohio. Police killed suspected shooter Connor Betts. His motive was not clear.

Red flags and background checks?

Mass shootings by lone attackers in recent years have increased concerns about gun violence and the threat posed by racist and white supremacist ideologies.

Trump, who has been accused of not doing enough to tackle domestic extremist groups, said he would direct the Department of Justice to investigate domestic terrorism and would propose legislation to ensure that those who commit hate crimes and mass murder face the death penalty.

He also said the country needs to reform mental health laws to identify disturbed people as well as work with social media companies to detect possible mass shooters.

“We must make sure 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,” he said, an apparent reference to “red flag” laws.

US Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican and Trump ally, said he has spoken with Trump about legislation he plans to introduce in September with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. It would direct federal grant money to states seeking to adopt such laws.

“Red flag” bills make it easier for police to confiscate weapons from someone found to pose a threat of violent behavior.

In a Twitter post earlier on Monday, Trump called for “strong background checks” on gun buyers, but he did not elaborate on the idea and it was not the central part of his White House statement.

“Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,” he said in the address.

That comment drew immediate criticism. Another Democratic presidential candidate, US Senator Amy Klobuchar, accused Trump of trying to dodge the issue of gun control.

“There’s mental illness & hate throughout world, but US stands alone w/high rate of gun violence,” she said on Twitter.

After a gunman killed 58 people at a music festival in Las Vegas in 2017, Trump proposed a ban on an attachment known as a bump stock that gives a semi-automatic weapon the capability of a machine gun. The ban went into effect in March.

But Trump stepped back from sweeping changes to gun laws, instead backing more modest measures.

Political divide

In a morning Twitter post, Trump called on Republicans and Democrats to work together on strong background checks and possibly combine that legislation with “desperately needed immigration reform.”

But Democratic lawmakers, who have fought Trump’s moves to toughen immigration laws and build a wall along the US-Mexico border, rejected any effort to tie gun control to immigration.

It was not clear what action Trump wants to take with Congress on summer recess and lawmakers not scheduled to return to Washington until September.

The Democratic-led US House of Representatives already has passed a bill calling for universal background checks for gun buyers. It has not been taken up by the Republican-led Senate.

Top Democrats have urged Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to reconvene the Senate to vote on the bill. Instead, McConnell encouraged bipartisan efforts to address mass murders in a statement that did not include the word “gun” but condemned “partisan theatrics and campaign-trail rhetoric.”

- Reuters