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Trump condemns ‘white supremacy,’ calls for mental health and gun reforms after double mass shootings

President Trump called Monday for reforms at the intersection of mental health and gun laws -- including so-called "red flag laws" to take guns from those deemed a public risk -- in the wake of back-to-back mass shootings over the weekend that left at least 31 people dead.

“Our nation is overcome with shock, horror and sorrow,” Trump said, in solemn remarks from the White House. “We are outraged and sickened by this monstrous evil.”


In unequivocal terms, the president also condemned white supremacy, responding to reports that the shooter in El Paso wrote a racist manifesto.

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"In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” Trump said, standing beside Vice President Pence. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hatred has no place in America.”

The president notably did not call for explicit changes to gun laws beyond red flag laws, despite tweeting earlier Monday morning about the possibility of linking background check legislation to immigration reform. However, he said he is open and ready to listen to ideas "that will actually work."

Among his list of proposals, Trump called for reforms to mental health laws "to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence," adding that we must "make sure those people not only get treatment but when necessary, involuntary confinement."

“Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun," Trump said, going on to call for red-flag laws to allow the seizure of firearms from those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety.

The president also called for "cultural" changes, citing violent video games. Further, Trump said he has directed the Justice Department to propose legislation ensuring that those commit hate crimes and mass murders "face the death penalty and that this capital punishment be delivered quickly, decisively, and without years of needless delay."

Further, he called for policing the "dark recesses of the Internet" in a bid to catch mass murderers before they act.

"We must do a better job at identifying and acting on early warning signs," Trump said. "I am directing the Department of Justice to work in partnership with local, state, and federal agencies and social media companies to develop tools to identify mass shooters before they strike."

He added: "We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace...It is too easy for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this and it has to begin immediately. "

Within minutes of completing his address, 2020 Democratic presidential candidates were slamming his remarks as insufficient.

"The president is weak. And wrong. White supremacy is not a mental illness, and guns are a tool that white supremacists use to fulfill their hate," Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., tweeted.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-shootings-remarks