That Mr. Trump would have the gall to pair immigration reform with gun reform after the El Paso murderer plainly expressed his alignment with Mr. Trump’s fear-mongering rhetoric about an immigrant “invasion” is deeply offensive. He has no moral standing to guide the nation through this crisis.
2
Dwight Eisenhower advised: If you can't solve a problem, enlarge it. At this point, the solution is not just the NRA; it's not just Trump's hate-speech; it's not just mental health (or lack of it); it's not video games...It is something so fundamental and pervasive, that the malignancy is unrecognizable to American society.
1
The article delivers a compellingly instructive and convincingly informative narrative. Revealing both the incredible hypocrisy practiced by 45 and the Republican Party by persistently demonizing and constantly maligning racial and ethnic minorities and their communities as breeding grounds of violence, and, yet, conveniently creating and promoting the fallaciously warped line that the basis of white nationalistic terrorism is premised upon mere video games and mental illness and not racial prejudice, antiimmigrant bias or xenophobic animus stretches credulity! Disparaging and attacking so called 'extreme Islamic terrorism' requiring the maximum effort of American law enforcement to quell and destroy the threat but turning a blind eye to the home grown terrorism committed by Caucasian males, less than college educated, lacking multicultural and multiracial awareness. These white malcontents drink the toxic demagoguery 45 and the GOP traffic to incite racial bigotry, anti LGBTQ hatred, and antiimmigrant prejudice. And, when confronted, mental health is the issue! No mention of mental health issues with 'extreme Islamic terrorism.' Most hypercritical, no contrition, no admission, no mea culpa for actively promoting and encouraging the poisonous atmosphere that produces and contributes to the violence. Rather, the fervently vicious chants of 'send her back' and 'go back to where you came from' are their common currency. Where does it stop? The next mass shooting? Race matters.
2
President Trump most belatedly and insincerely condemned racism today.
Meanwhile Mitch McConnell had a suspiciously convenient shoulder injury when the Democrats invited him back to DC for an emergency session after the two weekend massacres. Lucky him.
1
NYT, Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN, HuffingtonPost, etc., etc., etc.
Make note: THREE mass shootings in less than one and a half weeks. Sound the death knell for the victims of Gilroy Garlic Festival, Giltoy, CA July 28, 2019, as well, lest we so quickly forget the six year old boy, the thirteen year old girl, the adult whose stars were also darkened by the recent white terrorist mass shootings.
1
One thing I think it is fair to say about AK-47s is they are not very discriminating.
They will mow anyone or anything down at which they are pointed, regardless of race, color, creed, sexual orientation or political persuasion.
Has President Trump ever paused once in the past few days to consider the possibility that among the 31 dead in El Paso and Dayton there probably were some Republican Trump supporters who now will be unable to vote for him in the 2020 election?
More to the point for Mitch McConnell, how is this going to effect Republican Party turnout and chances?
Dead Republicans generally don't vote.
2
This violence is not about racism; this is a dangerous distraction. This violence is about violence. How easy it is to mete out in appalling spades! Trump is now in the situation that he has to pick between two of his tropes to use one to condemn the other. Either way he loses face. He has decided the gun lobby is of more political gravitas than the white supremacy movement, although, doubtlessly, Trump is sure there are “many fine people” in both camps.
An acquaintance of mine from Alberta was slain in Las Vegas by a killer firing indiscriminately into a concert crowd. Both victim and perpetrator were white, so race was barely a factor there over inexplicably murderous intent.
By calling these killings “white nationalist terrorism,” it gives them a political legitimacy that others might seize upon. As a young soldier in Northern Ireland, I encountered white nationalist terrorism, murder wrapped in patriotism, and it looked nothing like this. What America has is a rage problem enabled by generations of disenfranchisement, a relentlessly greed driven society that creates inequality and depression, coupled to the Second Amendment.
Face facts, stop blaming racism for America’s atrocities. Blame it on what America has become.
4
"Mr. Betts had purchased his AR-15-style rifle legally online from Texas, and had it shipped to a gun store in or near Dayton." Why has it still not been reported what kind of a gun EXACTLY it was? The exact model and the manufacturer? Which site in Texas did he order it from? At what dealer in Ohio did he pick it up? What are the federal and Ohio laws regarding buying these kind of weapons and their ammunition? What other states allow them to be sold? How many of these things is Texas exporting to other states? Which companies/venues carry advertisements for them?
6
Most of us don't need anymore excuses from politicians regarding repealing the 2nd Amendment. We all know they have zero intention to do anything.
In a week these past 3 American terrorist mass murders will fade away in the media. Like most commenters say and rightly so after Sandy Hook nothing was done after twenty 6 and 7 year old CHILDREN and 6 school officials were murdered.
Here is what will work, sustain mass nationwide protests that continue until change is made. Politicians don't like these one bit.
4
Where’s the Anti-Defamation League’s chief’s Jeff Greenblatt’s denunciation of Stephen Miller’s racist platform. The silence for the last two years simply demonstrates how complicit the Anti-Defamation League, AIPAC and related organizations and community are in the racialization of Central American refugees.
Moreover, Cerberus Capital’s Stephen Feinberg owns all the US gun manufacturing.
Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the world are watching. Don’t cry Wolfe again!!!
3
El Paso & Dayton are what happens when a "president" actively demonizes migrants & people of color & when he repeatedly models misogyny. They are also what happens when a "president" & RW Republicans & Blue Dogs continually block reasonable gun control.
The height of the "president"s effrontery in his response was his effort to promote his vile immigrant-demonizing agenda as a response to the horror that agenda helped create.
3
Where is the Walton family sellers of these deadly guns.
Hiding in their mansions I'll bet
3
I remember after the Vegas mass shooting reading about a survivor. She'd gone to the concert w her two BFFs. One was killed, one was uninjured, and she was I believe suddenly paraplegic. They'd all been dancing together at the concert. That's how random it was.
Not everything is about the complete awfulness of the American healthcare "system," but it seems timely to remind voters that if they are the lucky survivors of a shooting and they aren't independently wealthy, they aren't going to get healthcare.
Universal healthcare now, please.
1
I chose this article because this is an extremely serious topic here in the US and around the globe. Last year in 2018 there were over 20 fatal mass shootings here in the US. Unfortunately, this is not new to us and these tragedies are happening so often. Obviously, we need reform and Trump is not succeeding in doing that. Trump believes that our recent gun control issues has been immigrants fault. This false because there has been multiple mass shooting where the gunman has been American. I believe in order to fix this issue they must take serious precision in giving anyone a firearm. This can be accused by using a legal process such as more extensive background checks and wait time such as a year or two. This must be addressed immediately because too many people are losing their lives due to a lack of gun control.
2
So we have a terrorist murder immigrants and Hispanics purposely for political reasons and President Pinocchio wants to marry immigration reform to any agenda the democrats propose.
Did the gun man write that response? That nullifies even the poor performance of him reading languidly and begrudgingly those words and literally spits in our faces at the end.
Did he just sanction more violence by suggesting that he can leverage liberals through right wing terrorism?
6
@Mathias So I guess you are just going to skip right over how the Dayton shooter praised Elizabeth Warren... Is she responsible too?
1
Trump ended up being unwilling to talk about access to guns at all- instead offered mental health and video games as an excuse. Mental health would be lovely if millions of Americans healthcare plans covered excellent mental health and all Americans were covered. I would suggest that congress fully fund research into the public health crisis that gun injury is would make our next steps most effective. The NRA has been effective at blocking even this.
4
I wish every parent, teacher and medical professional had some basic training in attachment and emotional first aid to reduce trauma's effects. Here are a couple of essential first aid kits:
https://francescaredden.com/emotional-first-aid-trauma-prevention-every-parent-needs-know/
http://www.ginaross.com/images/emotional_first_aid_brief_guide.pdf
Trauma is highly linked to secure attachment, a function of healthy relationships. Technology is deeply impacting our ability to connect with each other eye-to-eye, skin-to-skin, face-to-face. It's pretty clear that most mass shooters are not securely attached with good relationships. Start at home - make down time for screens.
The cause of PTSD has a lot to do with what happens to a person after the event rather than just the event itself. For anyone involved, it's important to take steps to avoid prolonged trauma. That includes not watching news constantly (not exposing yourself to repeated images) and - this is important - not re-telling the story repeatedly without interruption. In the brain, the more a neural network fires, the more deeply worn it becomes. Repeating the story is like walking the same path - it becomes more permanent the more we wear it in. Among others, Somatic Experiencing, Brainspotting, and EMDR are two very effective trauma treatments.
3
As the president says, racism and bigotry can not be tolerated. But what are you going to do about it, Mr. President? What are our elected officials going to do about it? We need more than just talking heads!
2
One thing that infuriates President’s Trump’s foes but is also a big part of his ability to maintain his grip on his faithful is his ability to speak extemporaneously and stir his crowds. Except that and his Twitter addiction also explain how he has let loose with some of his most hateful comments, the same comments we rightfully won’t let him forget. But give him a tiny amount of credit—in his address today he knew he had to speak from a prepared text and stick to it, and he did.
And the words are nice, except they are obviously those of one of his speechwriters. “Hate has no place in America…hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.” Great words, just not something such a lover of hate would say.
Of course, some presidents can pull this off. President Reagan may have been the best. It helped that he was a professional actor, plus that he had a great speechwriter in Peggy Noonan. Me, I liked President Obama, who always came off as sincere plus with that nice touch of class. At these moments he had the gift of making you feel good about being an American.
But that takes us back to President Trump. What makes it all so futile is how his words today contrast so sharply with all the words of hate he has spewed over the years. One thing that maybe, just maybe, could have saved him would have been to call for some real action, like a ban assault rifles. But he is too much of a prisoner of his various evil masters to make such a leap. So, here we sit.
7
Anyone making a serious effort to look for patterns in the behavior of those responsible for mass killings (the FBI among them) have not arrived at the conclusion that video games are a source (at all) of social violence. For Trump, the Governor of Texas, and other Republicans to parrot such nonsense is the political equivalent of "the dog ate my homework" and an insult to the intelligence of the average American. We've entered the Twilight Zone.
How about mental illness? Undoubtedly individuals that commit such heinous crimes are mentally ill but identifying such individuals and preventing them from getting access to the tools they use to commit their crimes is an entirely different story. Only a small percentage of the shootings committed (mass or otherwise) would have been prevented on the basis of prior psychiatric evaluation making it impossible for these sick people to obtain weapons.
Trump panders to his base, many of which are racists and feel a need to have access to arms designed neither for hunting nor self-defense but, quite the opposite, killing as many people as quickly as possible in war zones. That's the AR-15.
The consequence? America has become a war zone in which growing numbers of people feel encouraged by the racist rhetoric of our putative Commander-in-Chief to use extreme violence against the touted "invasion" Trump inveighs against on a daily basis.
If not outright crazy, this element is definitely crazed and Trump is a major engine of that state.
6
@Bob - Yes, you have the correct yardstick for evaluating potential "solutions" to our almost-daily massacres of innocents. This is whether these "solutions" would have prevented previous massacres.
Better screening for mental health issues? Yes, I guess that in general would be a good thing. But as a solution for these massacres? Was this a joke?
Less-violent video games? See above...
But how about removing access by private citizens to assault rifles and large stocks of ammo? Go back across these incidents and check how many were enabled by the ability of the evil perps to legally lay hands on these weapons and ammo within days of their crimes. If you could retroactively take away their ability to do this you'll find you could have saved hundreds of lives.
Except we can't go back in time. We do, however, have all of the future in front of us. To me, this would be so easy to do. Second Amendment? You feel you need a handgun to protect your house? No prob. A shotgun to go duck hunting? Sure. An assault rifle and 1,000 rounds of ammo to....what? Massacre everyone at Walmart? Sorry, not what the Founders had in mind.
The fact that we can't even get STARTED on this discussion shows how evil our country has become, and how unworthy our so-called leaders are. They can't even TALK about it, as witnessed in our so-called President's speech this morning. He wants to "make America great again?" I despair that we can't do that, although step one would be to get rid of this guy.
2
@Bob
To a previous comment: https://nyti.ms/2yEDXa3#permid=101848352
The FBI suggests that the El Paso attack, “underscores the continued threat posed by domestic violence extremists and perpetrators of hate crimes.”
Oh, this mass murder underscores a threat.
And I’ll bet once underscored, that threat goes right onto a list somewhere in an FBI file!
That done, there's no need to look into the leadership and financial backers of ‘nationalist’ hate groups.
And certainly, the FBI should pay no attention to Russia’s funding of the NRA, the nation’s most powerful opponent of gun-control.
No sir, a firm FBI underscore should do the trick.
4
A local gun-rights advocate and County Commissioner in Yamhill County, OR, is offering a link to psychiatric meds as a possible cause for mass shootings. May I also offer the Commissioner, Mary Starrett, the “Twinkie Defense”? When we get beyond this nonsense, I would like to suggest a ban on all rapid-fire type guns and accessories such as Assault rifles and bump stocks, for one year? Then we could at least gauge the”Deaths per minute” of these shootings. It would be a start!
5
Matt Golding, Cartoonist from the Sydney Morning Herald, offered the following:
Above a map of the US, with multiple speech bubbles saying “Thoughts and Prayers”, was a definition of Insanity:”Doing nothing over and over again and expecting a different result”
6
We no longer have a ‘government ‘ in this country. We have a regime. And it is a cruel, racist, and dangerous regime. The Republican Party that sanctions this regime is intent on one party rule and is gradually institutionalizing absolute power by corrupting the electoral system, taking over the justice system, militarizing the police as adjunct paramilitaries, and infiltrating the Congress with sycophants.
And yet, for the most part, ‘the people’ remain untouched. Most of the people in my world are apathetic to politics, simply want to live their own lives occupied with work, play, and family, unaware of the alarms all around flashing Code Red.
When I saw the pictures of Mike Pence, Lindsey Graham and others inspecting a detention center in Texas, looking through a fence behind which were hundreds of men standing shoulder to shoulder in a confined space, impervious to the smell and suffering, it reminded me of the famous picture of Himmler and aides dispassionately inspecting a concentration camps.
Then I knew we were there. Fascism and suppression of the press and opposition is but baby steps away from putting the icing on the cake of Totalitarianism.
8
After every mass shooting, every newspaper in the U.S. should print on their front page how much money each candidate received from the NRA, including the president. These politicians have put a price tag on our lives, let's put a price tag on their morality.
9
Assault rifle ban.
Universal background checks.
Now.
4
Many claim that mass shootings are caused by the availability of guns. They compare the US to countries with few or no guns and claim the point is proven. But the US is unique in its gun culture. Comparing it with other countries tends to distort. The better analysis comes from the US itself.
The number of mass shootings here has increased substantially over the last 20 years, but the number who own guns has not significantly changed. If more shootings occur without an increase in gun ownership, the relationship between the two is dubious.
Common sense tells me that all the attention that goes to these shootings leads to more and more of them. The coverage of most shootings is way out of proportion to their news value. I blame our problem, to a large extent, on sensationalist journalism.
5
All the disheartening news of 2 new master murders who carried out terrorist attack on the people of El Paso and Dayton and we all know nothing will be done in Congress.
Republicans are owned by NRA and Defense Industries automatic weapons military style weapons and they will do nothing.
11
The hardcopy cover of today’s paper reporting on the massacre people has three photos: one of people hugging and praying, one of people lighting candles, and one of law enforcement officers with blank stares. This is not how we will stop this carnage: show America the blood. Show our elected officials the emptied eyes of the dead. Show the gun owners of this country the mangled flesh of bullet wounds. Only then will we find the anger and the courage to do the right thing.
19
El Paso and Juarez are "sister cities" with related people living on both sides and a tradition of easy crossings for shopping school and sometimes work. What an appalling number of people do not realize is that many US citizens cross to the other side for work and Mexican citizens often come for shopping. On top of that many US citizens live on the Mexican side and come back and forth regularly. When I lived in Washington State I knew a number of people who had vacation homes in Canada and had special passes to go back and forth so they could pass the long lines at customs. And I knew a number of people who had lived in the US for years and run businesses, owned homes etc. even though they only had green cards. And they planned to leave when they retired so they wouldn't have to pay any inheritance tax even though they had had all of their financial success in the US. They weren't the least bit interested in "giving back." Their countries of origin? Ireland, South Africa (white) and Canada, the kind Trump prefers because they will "fit in."
6
As of this point, there are too many using these tragedies to indulge their hatred. Media is using them to boost ratings. Democrats are using them to fund raise.
Hopefully this feeding frenzy will ease soon so we can have a rational conversation about gun control. Trump is our best hope. Democrats won't get anything passed, and republicans are too opposed. Anyone serious about changing our gun laws will support this president. He's the least indebted and/or tied to either side.
4
@AACNY
Correct.
Trump is not indebted to either side.
He is indebted to his master, Putin, whose Russian friends are the biggest donors to the NRA as revealed by the NRA’s booted CEO, Oliver North.
Keep ‘Merica Great!
3
Trump has painted immigrants as rapist and murderers. In his warped mind combining immigration and gun legislation makes perfect sense, a win/win for him. He most likely believes that closing borders will solve the problem, eliminating the need for gun legislation. What he misses is that it is not immigrants committing mass murder, it is white, American men with their finger on the trigger.
9
@Matt. Those blacks people were not the immigrants Trump blames for everything. And if he backed strong gun laws those black people in Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia and anywhere else would not be able to get guns so easily. And a lot of those killings in my city and Chicago were most likely not committed with weapons that could kill 9 people and wound 27 in less than a minute. The shooters didn’t travel 600 miles for the sole purpose of murdering black people or Latinos.
I find it it very easy to blame Trump for doing nothing to begin the difficult job of getting rid of some of these guns. What is fake is any interest or compassion this fake president has for the victims of these murders. The Trump family slogan is “I don’t really care.Do you? “
1
There are good people on both sides.
2
@Joe
Hey, there’s always a coupla bad apples.
My wife says: he should call on the Senate to pass the legislation on gun control already sent to it by the House.
That would be positive leadership; let’s see if his script writers can get that done at least.
12
Attempting to 'pair' gun control and immigration is cynical strategy, disrespectful beyond belief.
The issues are fundamentally distinct and should be addressed in separate legislative processes.
As to content, in both cases respect for human lives & dignity has to be front and center.
460
@merel-an,
Go search up the pictures of the six-year old that died in Gilroy and look into his wide, sweet brown eyes. At this point, whatever works. The slaughter of the innocent must cease.
10
@merel-an people of color with the right to vote? need to get out in record numbers in 2020. white people alone aren't going to get the job done.
9
@merel-an
We don’t have a leader, we have a distortion filter. Pairing the two issues is clearly a tortured, self-serving combination, the classic case of the apple and orange.
This is what members of the political party who regards itself as the promoters of law & order have done to themselves - made it clear they are too cowardly to defend citizens and law enforcement from grossly unnecessary levels of firepower.
Until we have leadership which rejects putting military grade weapons in the hands of civilians, we will be at risk of more violence.
9
The electorate must demand real and significant gun law reform and must insist that any person running for political office on any level must stand first and foremost upon that platform. The media has a role to play in keeping the public focused on that goal and in moving public opinion toward that direction. The electorate must not be distracted by the machinations of the powerful influences who feel otherwise. This is the only way for us to effect change and I think if we accomplish this achievable goal many other progressive issues will follow. In my opinion it seems clear that the people perpetrating this sort of thing have been radicalised in much the same way as religious extremists and I believe in this matter the current president of the United States of America is complicit.
Mr. Mulvaney can’t have it both ways. White nationalists are a large portion of the current president’s base. He speaks and acts in ways which send a clear signal he is there for them. It’s his only way to maintain his base. While it is true he didn’t cause these things, his complicity is undeniable. He is both an outcome of a pathology or a symptom if you will and an enabler and encourager of that pathology.
It’s unconscionable that a person entrusted with the leadership of the nation would behave in such a fashion. I believe it is a symptom of terminal illness.
5
What a person SAYS signifies very little. What a person DOES provides an image of his/her heart, even if incomplete.
9
No more endlessly searching for "motive" as far as these cruel, unspeakable acts are concerned. I mobilize and act to end these senseless actions. What could encourage one human being to shoot/kill other human beings? There are no reasons for this but there are ways to stop this from happening. As a society, we have to find solutions and stop this violence. Thoughts and prayers do not work but actions will-by any means necessary.
1
Trump can say whatever he wants because it’s just words he says. He knows the Republicans have no intention of strengthening gun safety laws in America, not even background checks. Trump will go back to slandering immigrants soon enough. He is not capable of empathy and leadership. The Republicans are not capable of protecting the country. Our best option for change is on Election Day 2020.
9
Is there anyone out there who could not have written this sorry speech while he golfed? It displays all the uselessness we have come to expect from this administration.
Childish ignorance as if video games and social media are magically restricted to the US which leads world in gun violence
Can't focus so conflates subjects: mental illness and mass murder Or immigration and gun control (via Tweet)
No action regarding mental illness Suicide by gun is 85% likely to be completed ( vs 3% for drug OD ) Source Harvard School of Public Health So restricting access to guns allows some of these people to reconsider and be helped
No action regarding gun measures backed by majority of our citizens like background checks
No action such as trip to visit people who need comfort
Hate has no place. OK, true, but somehow I don't think his next rally is going to be a Woodstock anniversary celebration.
Please work to vote them out!
8
It may be helpful to look at other countries: we know that these mass shootings are predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, and so if we find that the U,S. differs from other countries with respect to suspected causal factors, then we not only have a reason to start pointing to those factors as being causally relevant, but we then also know that apparently those factors (unlike our fragile bodies, or lack of mandatory house arrest) are a good candidate to be tweaked.
So, here goes:
List of suspects and respective blame %:
Video Games: Violent video games are played in other parts of the world. Blame: 1% at best
Hollywood Gore: See Video Games. But being less immersive, I would say their cognitive effect is even smaller. Blame: 0.5%
Social media: Is everywhere in the world. Big time echo chamber .. but next to impossible to control. Blame factor: 3%
Mental Heath: Other parts of the world have mental health issues too. And Blinding Hatred and Extreme Ideology are not even in the DSM. Blame:1%
Trump: Other parts of the world have leaders that likewise stoke feat and hatred, and yet we don’t see nothing like daily mass shootings there. And while some incidents (El Paso) fit the bill of white nationalism, many more (Dayton) do not. Most decisively, mass shootings gave been happening for a long time before Trump. I blame Trump for 1%
Insane amount of guns readily accessible to all citizens: Eh .... need I really point out how the U.S. is an anomaly? Blame: 90%
10
It's asking a lot, but I wish the families victimized by these shootings would help organize A Million Americans March on Washington until things change.
9
It's asking a lot, but I wish the families victimized by these shootings would help organize A Million Americans March On Washington Until Things Change For The Better.
3
Texas was part of Mexico for over a hundred years before we invaded it and took it from them.
The absurdity of the terrorist's statement boggles the mind.
My wife is a 4th generation Tejana. I am white, but my own grandparents were immigrants. Her ancestors have been here far longer than mine.
16
We the people are helpless. We need a government.
3
@Martin Daly A working Government.
2
"The attack was a reminder of the undercurrent of the attention that has come to El Paso as thousands of migrants have illegally crossed the southern border into the United States" - Way to buy into the rhetoric NYtimes - DO BETTER! Many of the migrants are well within the law to come and ask for asylum. are you kidding me?
6
Just to be very, very clear: The president of the United States did not condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. That would take an active (not passive) verb, and would involve the first person pronoun. The president read a statement (clearly crafted by a ghostwriter) in his usual "hostage speech" style (sing-song rhythm, no typical "add-on" asides, no thumb-to-forefinger waving hands) because his handlers made him do this. There was not one iota of sincerity in this speech; watching it was a waste of time, not to mention simultaneously vomit-inducing. America needs a real president. Let's kick this "reality star" to the curb already.
23
As a US citizen I cannot buy so much as an aspirin from Canada or Mexico without tremendous government oversight, bureaucracy, and security.
But I can walk into a gun and walk out with a semi automatic machine of death. What kind of bizarre twilight zone esq has our country become?
19
@Nature Voter...I sometimes wonder if the obsession with guns has to do with the fact that some people realize that they're on stolen land. And they're concerned that it will get taken back. Strangely, with the population numbers increasing for minorities, it seems like it's happening. I suppose the reaction is probably predictable given the origins of the country.
Donald Trump mechanically read today from his TelePrompter. That would be the same TelePrompter he derided Barack Obama for using, right?
Whomever wrote his remarks needs a bit of a geography lesson. At the end of his flat-affect speech, (y)our president extended his sympathies to the people of Toledo.
This is incompetence and disdain on steroids.
NOT my president
18
All lawmakers need to visit the medical examiners morgues in El Paso and Dayton.
9
@Sherrie
There are some republican posters on here that need to visit and meets the American families that have suffered because of their immigrant hatred.
7
Yikes, I just watched the video of Trump's embarrassingly un-heartfelt reaction to the mass shootings.
I noticed Trump does this emotionless sing-song recitation of speeches written for him that are totally out of character with his negative, bad-boy, outrageous persona.
So give that man an award for really bad acting, or does he perform this way intentionally to communicate to his base that while he is saying appropriate things, he wants his base to know (wink-wink) that he doesn't mean a word of it.
Why does he do this? It is not only embarrassing for our country, it is sick.
16
@PB......your last 3words nailed it. He is sick, he should be the first “red flag” candidate for a full neurological work up. Ask any neurologist/ neuropsychologist , they find him a person in need of diagnosis.
2
One Times headline says "Trump Condemns White Supremacy", and one says "In El Paso Shooting Suspect's Manifesto, An Echo Of Trump's Language". Interesting.
5
Mexico, step up! We need you.
2
Forrest Gump said, "Stupid is as stupid does." Trump's words today, written and packaged by a speechwriter, echo hollow if all he does and return to his political rallies and encourage that people of color or alternative nationality are less than human. Mr. President, you are allegedly a leader. People are listening to you. Language has consequences.
10
I just received an email from a Democratic presidential candidate. She said that if she were president she would do several things to make sure events like this would not happen. My response to her was, why wait until you are placed in office, should you win: that would be nearly 18 months from now. Why not implement legislation now that would have immediate impact. It seems to me that all of congress is mired in perpetual fundraising, not doing the right thing for the citizens who placed trust in them their "leadership" position. These days, it seems that destiny controls us. We are certainly have lost our collective values by not demanding a hard reset of our elected leaders: lead or go home.
15
To put it simply, Trump is a pyromaniac fire fighter.
He seeds hate and then pretends to lament, when in fact he enjoys the fire.
Only by ousting him and his subservient croonies in 2020 and passing laws restrIcting guns , or at least machine guns will we have a chance of saving lives.
28
" ... [McConnell] contacted Senators Cornyn and Portman to express his deepest sympathies for the people of El Paso and Dayton ... " Ah, yes, the typical "thoughts and prayers" response from the NRA contingent in Congress. " ... the El Paso massacre ... was the inevitable byproduct of the Trump era’s anti-immigrant, and anti-Latino invective, which with its pervasive, vile racism has poisoned our nation ... " (NYTimes, 4Aug2019) Indeed. Mr. Trump seems to believe that if he does not use the "N" word, and simlar terms for Hispanics, he is not a racist. Wrong. His "dog whistle" approach to racism is just as bad, and as POTUS he is inciting some of his base to more extreme actions, and as in this case, violent. Rather than any productive actions such as the House passed enhanced background checks (which Mr. McConnell refuses to bring up in the Senate), we get "thoughts and prayers" from Republicans. Truly disgusting.
11
I am outraged by this president’s response.
In fact, by linking mass murder and white supremacy to immigration, he’s actually validating the supremacist ideology. Pandering to them even, just because he wants to get his way.
Good god, he’s simply angling for a deal. Republicans and Trump cultists who stay silent or prevaricate are killing us.
23
He didn't "condemn". With obvious difficulty and no heartfelt conviction, he read some prepared empty words, sniffing and struggling to keep his dentures in place. All phony. What a disgrace.
25
Vote people. Please vote.
23
The republicans may not be out there in white hoods, but they created the atmosphere to divide America that has made these types of mass shootings common. Tropes like “welfare queens” and “super criminals” to create an us vs them attitude. And why did they do it? So they could win elections and give their wealthy donors and friends tax cuts. And look what they have to show for it. The worst states in education, healthcare, and poverty are all deeply, deeply republican.
29
Once again, the Emperor is wearing no clothes. The cause of gun violence…is guns.
And once again, the President did not propose reasonable gun control measures. So, what is in the background of his response to the shootings in Dayton and El Paso?
Limiting our freedoms. He proposed limitations on video games, the internet, and the privacy of information of individuals with mental health issues. He did not propose funding for mental health care; Republicans have historically and categorically opposed this.
And he did not propose limiting the use of guns in this country.
Our nation has survived, at times thrived, for 243 years trusting that more laws - not more guns - protect us. Laws promote safety, security, and an open society; guns as they are now being used in our society are creating division, hatred, insecurity…and fear.
Are we a nation of laws or guns? If your answer is laws, you need to demand your elected representatives stand up and speak up right now…or get another job.
9
There are certain guns that make mass killings easy and efficient. If we were to take away those guns, mass shootings would decrease.
6
@Vickie
After Parkland, Trump banned bump stocks. These are the attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly.
1
It's time to stop asking or demanding that Trump address the nation after a mass shooting or disastrous weather event. And, way past time to stop asking whether he will personally visit the location of a disaster.
What's the point?
It's the same series of events every time.
The media and politicians spend hours, maybe days, criticizing Trump for not being a caring, empathetic and problem solving president.
Trump finally goes on TV with a teleprompter speech and says a bunch of words, not written by him, in a tone of voice that sounds like a hostage video.
Trump gets criticized for not being a caring, empathetic and problem solving president.
And, sometimes, Trump visits the location of the disaster, often bringing Melania in her high designer clothing, and local officials kiss his ring, and Trump does absolutely nothing to help the people and cities affected, lessen the effect of future disasters or avoid future disasters.
Please. Don't ask him to talk. It's bad enough when he tweets and holds rallies. And, it's the tweets and rallies that show how he really feels and what he really intends to do (or not do).
16
There are about 330 million guns in the US, enough for every man, woman, and child to have one. With these, the US averages about 100 deaths by guns per day. So the 30 deaths inflicted in some 30 minutes by two gunmen account for deaths which would usually happen in about 8 hours.
I think the issue is not about high body-count mass killings, but about the saturation of gun ownership, such that almost any individual in a moment of despair, anger, or bravado can inflict irreversible damage to anyone or anything. Government should not be in the business of facilitating this. A supreme court with any wisdom would recognize the difference between a “well-regulated militia” and a “good person with a gun”, and legislatures would seek to honor its citizens’ rights to life, liberty, and assembly, which are clearly under threat by the unregulated (sic) use of guns. Automobile drivers, school teachers, dog owners are all regulated. The “well-regulated militia” referenced in the Constitution probably requires more than that every man, woman, and child in the US should have and be able to carry a gun. Our legislatures, courts, and political donors are unforgivably delinquent in letting the “well-regulated militia,” and even the Constitution itself, sink to this state.
13
Gun addicts overdose when the impulse to go on a shooting spree, or even to shoot only one person or themselves, becomes so irresistible that the addict shoots people who clearly don’t deserve to be killed or wounded. In doing so, the addict subordinates his own well-being, as well as that of the victims, to the addiction.
The media’s obsession with the shooter’s motive is misplaced. Millions of people have thoughts similar to the shooter’s, but only a few become addicted to guns and overdose. It also misses the point to blame Trump, who clearly lacks the ability to understand the consequences of his pronouncements on all sorts of issues.
Experts should identify gun addiction and publicize the signs of it so that people can report potential gun addicts to law officers, who shouldn’t be required to wait until a shooter approaches his targets.
It’s also vital that gun addicts, potential or actual, be informed of the phenomenon of gun addiction.
Some of the symptoms of gun addition: possession of gun(s) in violation of existing laws; possession of assault weapons; possession of more guns and ammunition than would be necessary for any reasonable purpose; frequently firing guns for pleasure or practice by people who aren’t employed to be accurate shooters; and expressing love for guns more often and more emphatically than love for people.
3
@Charles Manning
So ignorance of the hate your talk and tweets inspire is a defense? Don’t buy that.
Take a quick look round websites where military grade assault rifles are sold, then tool around in the reviews columns...it is distressing to see how many of the folks you describe cite having to buy assault weapons before Obama took away their right to own them.
No civilian has a right to own weapons whose sole purpose is to kill other people as rapidly as possible, addiction be damned.
3
I live in Maryland where universal background checks for purchases of handguns are required, even at gun shows. You can't just walk out of a store or show the same day you purchase the gun. They do have a provision that you can apply for an ID card that proves you have had a full background check using state and national records that shortens the waiting time to about two weeks. If you don't apply for the card and keep it current the wait is more like six months. Large capacity mag sales are banned but, unfortunately, it doesn't stop you from buying them in a neighboring state where "pieces" of guns do not require background checks. Nor is there a limit on how many ten-round mags you can buy in Maryland. An expert shooter can change mags in 2 - 3 seconds - but those seconds could make a difference for law enforcement to stop even an expert. Finally, although semi-automatic rifles are now manufactured with fittings that limit the size of mags that can be mounted, there are readily-available modification kits that can alter those guns - just don't get caught in Maryland with large-capacity mag or you go to jail. Here's the point - the entire US should standardize its gun laws to at least meet Maryland standards and eliminate the sale of high-capacity mags and mod kits. It won't stop gun violence but it would at least limit the effectiveness of violent, hate-filled shooters. You can't legislate hate but a hate-mongering president can be removed - vote him out.
8
@Angelsea
Yes, that law would help if national. But being realistic, imagine any Southern state adopting it or some others too. I believe that guns get transported into MD from Southern states clandestinely. Not going to happen.
Trump sure can read from a teleprompter but he sounds a lot different and a lot more animated when he's speaking his own mind. Trump laughed when a man at his rally suggested shooting immigrants. Trump loves riling up his base against immigrants with words like "invasion". The use of the word "invasion" is a calculated one; it is not a word used to describe a long line of immigrants seeking asylum, but rather to describe an attack of war. "Invasion" reflects Trump's true attitude; he wants his army to think of and treat immigrants as if they are a mortal enemy. Trump speeches that arise from the dark recesses of his own mind trigger fear and alarm among his supporters, and inspire young white men to kill immigrants (and people who look like them) with weapons of war.
11
Perhaps the hate rallies Trump holds, almost weekly, have something to do with this? I mean, I never imagined, that I'd see in my lifetime - a US president - holding hate rallies. He should be impeached, for holding hate rallies - if nothing else.
18
No war weapons. License gun owners. Big background check. No private sales unless background check and licensed.. No tent or gun show sales.. Trump has again does nothing. Will do nothing. Tie the legislation to nothing. Gunners should be responsible and do the above.
3
"In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy" this from the same mouth that has encouraged and demonstrated racism, bigotry and white supremacy like a Grand Wizard at a clan rally. Save me your lies Trump you inspired the El Paso maniac to act. Just remember the next maniac is polishing his assault weapon arsenal as we speak. Do something meaningful!!
8
Two points: Trump did not mean a single word he said today about the need to condemn hatred and white supremacy. He'll be back to encouraging both at his next rally, if not before. And second, not a blessed thing will be done to reduce the number of firearms in this country, which is an absolute necessity if we are going to make a dent in gun violence. Nothing that could possibly make a difference will even be contemplated as long as Trump is in office and clowns like Mitch McConnell set the agenda in congress. At a minimum, we should have a ban on assault rifles, a mandatory gun buyback program like the one in Australia, mandatory licensing and registration for all firearms, strict background checks and waiting periods, greater oversight of all firearms and bullet sales.
11
The president’s tweets illuminate the dark corners of the minds who hate. His constant politicking is dangerous, as his thoughtless attempts to incite blind mob hatred to score political points continue and serve as validation of hateful impulses.
For the sake of the country Mr. President, please stop shining that light and make us safer by banning assault weapons.
5
@JH Please add: And Resign.
2
So, why to so many American residents want to own guns? Volumes are written on that, but the usual excuse is protection. Does owning a gun give you protection? NRA literature says that if you own a gun for protection you better have the will to kill and the skill to kill. Otherwise you are better off not having a gun. In a tense situation if you display a gun and demonstrate uncertainty, you are likely to get yourself shot, especially if you are distinguishable as not Caucasian. Most gun exchanges are one-way, e. g. suicides. Wild West shoot outs are fantasies, but all gun owners are potential killers. It is impossible to know which gun owners are going to flip and when. Gun purchase checks are like peeing in the ocean. It doesn’t measurably change the salinity.
In today’s Trumpian word the best protection against gun violence would be gun registration/licensing, with certification and tracking ammunition purchases, with an outright ban on assault weapons. Legitimate gun owners would welcome such measures, as they do in more civilized countries like Canada. There is no legitimate reason for individual ownership of assault weapons, unless you believe that being prepared to violently resist your government is legitimate.
To the extent that the Trump America we now live in persists, none of this will happen. Like global warming, ever worsening consequences are going to continue.
9
We owe it to the dead, in El Paso, in Dayton, and to their orphans, to the detainees in camps, to Baltimore, to the Squad, to everyone back to the disabled journalist mocked at the beginning, to the citizens of Mexico defamed on the day he announced...to ourselves and our children, we owe them the march of marches, a tide descending on DC of voices that howl our pain and protest. Whether we prevail (and we must) or not, history is watching. The powerless are watching. The unsure and ambivilent are watching. If god's there, creation's author is watching, too. We need to stand up, be counted.
Yes to all the rest, to voting blue, to careful, plodding, steady activism. Yes to not abandoning efforts to cajole, persuade, shame those in our orbit who support this degeneracy, this utter degeneration of our core national principles, degeneration of the values that have made us great.
But with, still, until...we march. See you in the streets, good people.
8
Donald Trump and Republicans are still on the 'payroll' of the gun lobby. Nothing will change as long as our politicians keep accepting "bribe money" from the NRA.
7
The argument that many common items besides guns can kill people is a false analogy. You can kill people with knives, baseball bats and your bare hands. You can suffocate someone with a Raggedy Ann doll for that matter. But it’s pretty hard to because that’s not what they’re made for.
Firearms are superbly designed and engineered implements for killing things. Handguns are specifically to be used for killing people. Firearms are efficient and effective. They can be used by even the most inexperienced individuals. They don’t require that the shooter be up close and personal to the intended target.
I have three guns. Two are inoperative and the other locked up. I don’t know why I have them, I haven’t fired them in decades. My lifestyle and neighborhood are such that the chance of ever using them is negligible. In fact, as an old man in suboptimal health who has divorced and retired in the past year the probability that I’ll use one to kill myself is vastly greater than to defend myself.
I don’t need my guns. Most other people don’t need guns either, actually hardly anyone does. The vacuous, illogical arguments for opposing gun laws and encouraging gun proliferation should be called out for what they are - false.
10
Trump can condemn gun violence all he wants but unless he puts those easy words into concrete and strict changes to stop these massacres in the future his words will mean nothing.
The old saying "actions speak louder than words" should be Trump's agenda!!! And also the immediate agenda for the House and Senate. We deserve a president who does what is necessary and VITAL in the wake of mass shootings in America. Same goes for Congress; except they are on a six week vacation.
3
It's not just mentally disturbed but ideologically disturbed individuals. President also stated we need to identify these individuals. Start with a list of any "Loners".. They by far are a major common denominator in this equation..
1
@zinn21
Your plan to identify ideologically disturbed loners who are responsible for gun violence should start with Trump himself. He may be in the public eye and have a family but he is an emotional "loner" through and through. And his spewing of hatred of some Americans from his public platform as the representative of all the people (see his oath of office) is certainly ideologically disturbed.
3
Trump is the stark reflection of what America is.
Hard to accept?
2
@Ralph
He's a reflection of 20-40% maybe. But not the majority. Witness his loss of the popular vote.
I've been here 65 years, and never met a person so thoroughly repugnant and loathsome.
2
"“In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy — these sinister ideologies must be defeated,” Mr. Trump said during brief public remarks at the White House that denounced the ideologies espoused by the suspected gunman in the attack at a Walmart store in El Paso."
This from the man who regularly tweets racist bigoted rhetoric and says white supremacists are, "very fine people". He has endorsed these "sinister ideologies" since becoming president, even going so far as to attack members of Congress.
Trump is encouraging unstable, hateful people to commit acts of violence. That is an impeachable offense to add to the list.
5
Trump and his Republican Party will never go along with any serious improvements in the gun laws.
There are 533 days left in his term of office.
Until that day arrives and he is forced to leave the White House, the country will have to get along as best it can and many more people will die.
3
Video games, same gender marriage, transgender, lack of God in public life, and on and on and on. I'll tackle the first nonsense. If video games are the root cause of mass shootings then Japan would lead the world in them as, per capita, they have the highest use of them.
It's not viceo games and all the other items I cited above. It's guns. It's the availabiltiy of guns, the lack of registration of both guns and ammunition and background check before sales. Canada's system is great and it works. Copy it. Canadians still hunt and, if they are law abiding, may own reasonable guns. We are alone in the world on this and it is disgusting to this American.
10
As others have pointed out, the "marrying" of gun control legislation to immigration laws is nothing more than the latest dogwhistle to the white supremacy crowd; another version of "fine people on both sides."
As for the death penalty for mass shooters, why not suggest a death penalty for mental illness--that would be more in keeping with the Republican stance on how to prevent shootings.
6
Video games don’t cause mass shootings.
Fomenting hate at Nuremberg-style MAGA rallies where women in Congress are targeted with racist chants because of their skin color/ religion does cause mass shootings.
Also, if the Republicans are so interested in expanding access to mental health care, then they should support Medicare-For-All.
Of course, they don’t REALLY care about expanding access to mental health services. They just don’t want the conversation to be about what it should be about: new firearms laws.
9
What Trump did was read a laundry list and mouth platitudes that others in his administration wrote for him. Given his past expressions of bigotry and racism and his support of white nationalists, as well as using the Internet to stir up prejudice, the remarks were transparent theater. Failed attempt to make people think he cares while continuing to stir up anti-immigrant sentiment.
4
So Trump might consider some unspecified gun control if Congress helped accomplish the white nationalist objectives he shares with the El Paso terrorist.
The two issues have no natural pairing but of course they are paired in Trump's mind: What need for "Second Amendment remedies" if America stops considering immigration and asylum applications from so many brown and black people?
It's pretty much a message to the American people that, yes, I will only consider doing some few common sense things to make you safer in your country if you agree to repeal what America has long stood for so I can send asylum seekers immediately back to face death in their countries. What a humanitarian your president will then be, when he no longer feels compelled to tear their children from them and lock them in cages.
No mistaking it. That's pretty much a Devil's bargain.
5
“In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” he said. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.”
Absolutely agree.
In one voice our nation must condemn Trump's racism.
In one voice our nation must condemn Trump's bigotry.
In one voice our nation must condemn Trump's white supremacy.
There is no place in America for the hatred Trump has sown.
These sinister ideologies that Trump embraces must be defeated.
Vote in 2020, with that one voice.
10
trump likely wants to marry it to immigration reform so that he can blame Democrats for resistance to his wall. Pure political ploy.
8
The NRA owns our government. Because of this, today may be the day you and/or one or more of your loved ones may be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It is as if you are playing the lottery with your life every time you leave the house.
That is what this has come down to.
4
Once again, Trump starts the fire and then claims to be the hero trying to put it out.
13
Once again, Trump is missing the point. While background checks might be useful, banning these military style weapons and high capacity magazines is the solution. We rarely hear of one of these shooters using a pistol. They always use weapons of war, because they are cowards, want to seem manly and want to inflict as much harm as possible in the shortest amount of time. Not possible with a pistol.
No one needs these types of weapons to go deer hunting, target practice or home security. Ban them.
And, linking immigration reform to a call for a measure of gun control, when there is no link, is just an example of opportunism and his own cowardice at not wanting to upset his base.
6
Trump linking these two unrelated issues and trying to get his way on immigration is the definition of using a tragedy for political advantage.
3
Trump should pair gun control with a new policy of his staying completely off Twitter and acting Presidential for a change.
4
It’s embarrassing, listening to the contortions of logic to avoid making the lack of gun control the problem.
6
A cleverly scripted speech, but nothing will come of it.
2
Where is Obama? Our country needs sane leadership and thoughts right now. I haven't see or heard from him.
4
It is less than 24 hours after these two mass shootings and the best Trump could suggest was “marrying” tougher background checks to new immigration laws?
He continues to miss the mark while further stoking the hate fire with his misguided "solution" and words.
5
So now the Trump narrative blames video games. His Republican sycophants will channel their inner lemmings and go forth and spew in pithy sound bites for the base. The rest of us know it is the guns. Such dishonor to victims and utter contempt for the American people. No civilian needs an assault weapon or body armor.
3
Let’s make a deal? This is not a game show Mr President. Do the right thing for once. Or don’t. I would not expect you and your administration to live up to any promises you make as you are completely not trustworthy. In three days time both of these events will be forgotten and the news cycle will move on with nothing accomplished to mitigate or fix the continuing tragedies which hit the USA like a steady drum beat. There will also be a run on AR15s and ammo today tho. In other news...
3
So much for not negotiating with terrorists. This is literally giving the shooter exactly what he wanted.
4
The very least Trump could have done would be to have the decency to get the name of the city where the mass murder occurred under his watch correctly. It happened in Dayton and not 150 miles away in "Toledo." Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.
If he is incapable of getting details correct, he cannot be trusted to get the big picture correct.
4
Somebody give me hope...
5
How does Trump sleep at night????It's his words that started this and he has continued these racist outbursts for the past 3 years. Telling 4 women of color who are US citizens to go back to their countries, speaking out about Rep. Cummings and his home town of Baltimore, putting cities down as rat infested when in actuality cities are doing better than ever and inciting people at his rallies to yell send her back. He is the one that is to blame for these shootings. His words make it okay to hate.
Today he gets up and reads from a speech written for him after days of almost complete silence. Will he never understand that human contact with these poor individuals who lost loved ones because of his words need to be comforted. He cannot comfort anyone. He is a money machine and cannot reach out. Let us not forget how the Obama's handled this situation. Even George Bush handled it better.
When the time comes the way to fight back is to vote him out of office but now we have to go out and march and register voters. He should not be allowed to get away with this. HE CAUSED IT.
2
Trump didn’t condemn White Supremacy, but his speech writers today did....kind of .
2
Just finished listening to the president’s on the the tragic weekend’s mass shootings. —It made me want to scream!
It was clear from the words that he did not write this speech, not one single word. About the only thing that ran true was his meanness in his calling for the use of death penalty, something which in coming after the fact is not much of a deterrence, especially when many that commit these heinous acts are already willing die in the act.
More important and more maddening is that he did not mean a word of it and the white supremacists know it. Why? Because, without admitting his racism and his role in and his incitement of the use of hate, racism and his tacit encouragement of violence, these beautiful words and sentiments are meaningless.
By blaming mental illness, the internet, video games and social media he continues to maintain the illusion that he and others like him have no culpability for these events.
What will it take for me to believe that he is sincere? Aside from his acknowledgement of his own role this. How about the FBI taking his words at face value, by beginning to investigate him for his role in this and acts of mass violence and the rise of white supremacy, or, his cabinet invoking the 25 Amendment?
Otherwise, all I heard was blah, blah, blah, yah, yah, yah!
5
Let's begin with "mental illness": let's start from the Top down. If you lie about everything all the time; something that you can use to gain power like creating doubt: "BIRTHER", and it goes on daily with deadly results: suspicion, doubt, hatred, division; what about something larger than your needs?
You don't have to massacre innocents to be called insane, I believe megalomaniacs have weapons of mass confusion; lies are lethal!
3
Don’t forget who supplies the Mexican cartels with weapons - the US. Wherever in the world people aren’t using Chinese AK’s, the US has flooded the world with tear gas, cluster bombs, assault weapons-they say charity starts at home, how about banning assault weapons here in the US?
A week from now the President will be at rally in a Red Welfare State and the crowd will chant “ Send her back” and the President won’t say a word.
The problem isn’t guns. The problem is that one of our two political parties is made up of nothing but racists.
5
@Sterling Or, "shoot them". That video, with the president laughing at the suggestion, should go viral.
5
Restrictive new gun laws are NOT going to happen, regardless as to any number of people are massacred. The Republicans and their puppet-masters (NRA) will see to that!
1
The bestest part is, the president’s little speech was made entirely so that he and his clowncar can trundle around swearing that they tried, but They blocked me.
It’s just stuff you tell the suckers while you wait for them to get distracted, in other words.
4
Trump was seen playing golf after the shootings. Isnt he wonderful?
9
Good for Mexico for protecting their citizens, where as our politicians refuse to do so. Mexico is addressing the liability of the guns and gun sellers, calling mass shootings terrorism instead of declaring any white guy who kills strangers like this mentally ill.
2
Sorry, Mr. President. Too little, too late. Trying to hold our nation’s frightened citizens ‘hostage’ while you try to tie any sensible gun control measures to continued insistence on an impractical border wall - especially given that the El Paso & Dayton killer’s targets were people of color - make you SINGULARLY UNFIT & UNDESERVING to lead and represent our nation! Don’t you think it’s time you left your golf courses, got off Twitter, put the television remote down and give us something more than ‘We feel your pain’ (sorry, Bill) or hearts & prayers platitudes and non action? Be an effective, (all-inclusive) leader, for God’s sake! Being the titular figurehead of a contrived television show doesn’t make you qualified to lead, btw! Just saying. But sadly, I think you will fail us again. I suspect that this, and (Charlottesville), will likely be your Katrina.
November 6, 2020 looms large and I hope, for the good our great democracy, your days are numbered. Mitch (and your sycophantic cowards)......you will be judged on YOUR action/non actions too!
5
It's not the video games, Mr. Trump.
People all over the world play violent video games. It's the damned guns.
14
Let us hope that these latest horrors may make us less dumb, less prone to numb turning away from an examination of the events and of the truth. We are living in the midst of a pestilence, partially because of the sanctity of our Second Amendment.
5
Why even allow the manufacture of assault rifles or ammunition? The US is awash in guns-guns are a fetish here, a stand-in for ‘freedoms’ that we don’t have due to social insecurity. I would rather live in a city with rats than people with guns.
7
How about a “Catch-22” law .
Something like if you want to purchase an assault style weapon you have to prove that you’re not mentally ill.
If you make an application to purchase said weapon it’s proof that you are mentally ill so you’re disqualified
Rather inadequate solution to the ubiquitous gun culture in your country, but at least a start.
1
Is there a single person in the USA who honestly believes that effective gun control is possible?
The Sandy Hook slaughter of kindergarten children was the definitive test of America’s moral character, and you failed miserably
It is clear that current and future mass shootings, no matter how outrageous, will be rationalized and equivocated, and nothing meaningful will happen.
America is a nation lost in pathological, compulsive self-harm.
6
The first step is to Shut down trumps twitter account.
9
This is a grotesque proposal. Trump is effectively elevating immigration reform to the level of gun control.
Illicit immigration does not kill people.
Lax gun control has killed and will continue to kill untold numbers of Americans.
7
Trump wants to tie immigration to gun laws? Did I really read that?
It is time for the 25th Amendment.
6
The President wants to chase the video games and the internet.
Not one word on *gun control *.
Now that the President has dished out a healthy helping of baloney, we can skip lunch and dinner.
4
This sounds a lot like Trump's promises after Parkland.
Hollow.
As.
A.
Log.
3
What I understand the president to mean is that it's time to link reform of our Immigration laws with attention to mental health—that is, ensure that no one with mental health problems is allowed into this country where his or her presence in a Walmart or public space might inflame the righteous indignation of a real American with a well stocked arsenal.
4
There can be a distinct line between the clinically diagnosed mentally ill and others who are acting out under the influence of the current propaganda machine. Not to distinguish is to let the Republicans, NRA, etc off the hook.
2
The reply to President Trump’s speech, in which he connected video games to mass shorting, should be short and precise: “Consult with the experts!”.
“In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” Mr. Trump said just now.
The one voice that must stop promoting racism, bigotry and white supremacy is Trump's.
5
I don't understand how capital punishment will prevent victims from dying "in vain." Won't they have died senselessly, gruesomely, and in vain no matter what happens after a trial of their killer? Upon his death their murders will then have meaning? I am at a loss with this president.
4
I may be wrong but neither of the two massacres of this past weekend were perpetrated by immigrants. So why does Trump think the two issues - gun control and immigration reform need to be paired? I suspect the goal is to get his immigration package through Congress while his stooges enact just barely enough gun control legislation to make it look like they were serious. I would like to think that we won't be fooled by this maneuver but I'm almost certain we will.
4
Big Talk from El Paso but neither prayers nor a brave face excuse what happened. In fact, The blame falls less on the sick perpetrator of these acts than on the American government bought off by the NRA and on a President who prefers not to lead but rather spew hatred to feed and nurture the mentally ill.
4
Let me see if I can process this. A White Nationalist kills or wounds close to fifty people on the southern border because he feels immigrants are invading our country and the president's first instinct is to appease the shooter by "marrying" the shooters motive to the weapon he used to point out his political grudge? This man cannot heal the nation anymore than the shooter could.
6
Mr Trump spoke about unity, but yet only seeks to divide America.
Again with the talk of mental illness, while ignoring the core issue of White Nationalism.
His refusal to take questions from the press speaks volumes and only exemplifies the fact that if asked he would be unable to defend his actions and or words.
Yes Mr President 'Words Matter' this morning you said nothing of any substance.
Thankfully he did attempt to read from the teleprompter, that was the only positive in 18 minutes of a waste of time.
2
The shooter announces he's committing his massacre to "protect" us from immigrants. Then Trump advocates "immigration reform." You think this will discourage more such shooters?
4
Immigration reform tied to White Nationalist carnage? That tells me he is quite un-serious about both. He wants to work with Democrats, but we already know any sensible gun control measures will be thwarted by Mitch McConnell.
2
What is a "mentally ill monster," as Trump would have it? The World Health Organization pegs unipolar depression as the planet's No. 1 disabler. To confuse mental illness of any kind with extreme ideology is to excuse extreme ideology. Mental illness likely has nothing to do with the motivation of the shooter in El Paso. It's been found not to have been the motivation among past mass killers. Trump's rhetoric can serve only to further stigmatize mental illness while deflecting from the investigation of domestic terrorism and those who buy assault rifles.
3
I cannot believe that the president of the U.S. is so hateful as to even suggest that the need for gun control is somehow tied to immigration. Americans slaughtered Americans in Dayton. They slaughtered Americans and visitors (not immigrants, visitors) in El Paso. This is the time for our so-called president to acknowledge that Hispanic families were the original residents of the southwest , but instead he's still tacitly promoting the idea that Hispanics don't belong here.
This blood is on his hands.
3
Hispanics indeed preceded Americans but were not the original inhabitants of Texas. That would be the Comanche, Apache and other indigenous tribes.
Well, Native Americans, NOT Hispanics, would rightly claim being the original inhabitants of the southwest...
@Bill Hess- Fair point. For the sake of accuracy, then let's agree that Hispanics came before Anglos in settling the southwest.
This is an outrageous attempt to play politics with an unspeakable tragedy Trump helped enable with his hateful speech. This man has no morals, no qualms and no common sense among many another inadequacies. He and his entire party of syncophants must go.
5
Trump’s is a cold political calculation: do nothing and endure continue mass shootings or give me my political agenda to meet NRA’s demands.
4
Instead of "Thoughts and Prayers" honor those who were murdered in all mass shootings by going to the polls in 2020 and voting all supporters of ownership of assault weapons out of office.
2
A vicious criminal kills innocent people because he hates immigrants. Trump’s response: pass stricter immigration laws. In other words, give the terrorist a win. Make his wildest dreams come true, and encourage others with grievances to do the same.
9
Donald Trump lit the fuse with his incendiary anti-immigrant, and racist rhetoric. His solution will solve nothing. Stronger background checks would not have prevented either the El Paso or Dayton shooters from legally purchasing military-grade rifles. And "immigration reform"? Is the message, "Don't come here and you won't be killed"?
There is one solution: Prohibit the manufacture, sale and purchase of semiautomatic assault-style rifles. Now and forever.
4
Anyone else struggling with why it took two days for this President to address the nation? He couldn't be bothered to leave his golf vacation to address us? Is there no one in the WH advising him how bad this looks and makes us feel?
He constantly demonstrates through his actions that he not care about the people in our country and how they feel... show some decency and backbone for once....we hurt, show us real compassion and action.....
7
@Lady Jane. I believe Stephen Miller whispers racist views in Trump's ear 24/7... that could be ine factor.
So basically Trump is agreeing with the shooter.
12
Immigrants are not responsible for White Nationalist mass shootings. The 17 Century barrier proposed by Trump to deter families fleeing poverty and violence will not impede the racism, ignorance, and hatred spread by Trump and his base voters.
Vote 2020 like you life depends on it. It does.
2
Call for immigration reform from the person who employed undocumented workers at his NJ golf club - including one who cleaned his personal suite - until it was exposed by the enemy of the people (the press).
Will the hypocrisy never end?
7
I've always held this paper in the highest possible regard. So after these killings, why are you still broadcasting Trump? I'm not nearly as well educated and smart as you folks but I know, Trump should be ignored by Television and the press.
2
The two are not connected at all and we are not going to change legal immigration laws for you or your supporters Trump.
2
Immigrants (and mental illness) aren't linked in any substantial way to gun crime in general or mass shootings in particular. No data supports those ideas. None. Trump, like the pathetic Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, wants everyone to talk about immigration and mental illness instead of the rise of violent white nationalism, the failure of state and local approaches to gun control, and the senseless access to high-capacity, high rate of fire weapons designed to kill large numbers of people quickly. The cops in Dayton stopped that shooter in 30 seconds. He killed 9 people and injured 27 in a few seconds of fire. The reason he could do it was he had a ".223-caliber high-capacity rifle with 100-round drum magazines." Ban them. Ban ALL semis. Make possession of high capacity magazines an automatic prison term. Just do it. No real hunter needs more than a bolt or lever action rifle. No one concerned with personal security needs a pistol with more that 9 rounds in a magazine or a 12 gauge in the closet. Close the patchwork of state and local gun regulation and have one national system (the states have failed miserably, with the assistance of the NRA). And vote out all politicians who accept terrorist financing from the NRA. Just do it. While you're at it, ask why your President is STILL parroting the anti-immigrant beliefs of a Texan terrorist.
8
So the president is using this carnage as a bargaining chip.
8
Trump is morally responsible for unleashing what happened in El Paso, and in Pittsburgh before that. In a recent example of his inciting statements, he asked the crowd in a Fla panhandle rally what to do to stop "dangerous" migrants. He was referring to women and children rushing the border when denied the right to ask for asylum. A supporter shouted back "shoot them!" and Trump laughed and said you could do that here in the Panhandle. He's a moral accomplice to hate-based mass murder.
3
Think it would be better to have 'Trump calls for Gun laws and Immigration checks" rather than "Trump calls for Gun checks and Immigrations laws"
We'll see how much Trump condemns racism, bigotry and white supremacy at his next rally. Will he stop his followers when they start their racist chanting, or will he smirk and allow it to continue as he has in the past? Will he keep up with his attacks on minority members of Congress, or will he stop it? Actions, Mr. President, speak louder than your words. We know your actions, and we have no reason to believe your words.
2
Could someone explain to me the possible civilian use of body armor?
1
This country is lost. Citizens United turned the entire government over to the NRA, gun manufacturers, and the monied donor class. If the slaughter of first-graders is not enough to overcome this dirty money, there is nothing that ever will.
5
So the people died so Trump could have his wall? In other words, exactly what the shooter wanted?
2
I don't even bother to watch Trump speak anymore. When he's on the news I change the channel.
Why listen to a lying con man who only cares about himself. He has zero credibility.
6
@I am with you. I take out my hearing aids when I am watching the evening news and they broadcast his sound clips - at least my hearing loss is useful for something!
1
If a Muslim man had done this, what would the reaction have been? How about a Central American without documentation? Big intrusive rules for those ethnic groups would be imposed. But no, it's a white guy, like so many millions of whites with arsenals. Well, we can't possibly restrict his access to guns, he's one of us.
6
It’s only been a day and already the president of The United States of America is echoing sentiments from the El Paso gunman’s manifesto.
9
He was saying most of the same stuff before, and retweeting a lot of the same sources; why would he srop because of a little thing like mass murder?
2
Our Trump.....Monday: Promises, Promises, Promises; Tuesday: Nothing; Wednesday(and onward); Nothing.
3
With his proposal to “marry” legislation, Trump is speaking on behalf of the gunman by essentially saying “if you stop the immigrants from coming, we’ll stop shooting them.” This President and his party are sick.
3
He says they are "mentally ill monsters" but he wants to execute them. Odd. Now we execute the mentally ill?
And not one word about military style weapons?
3
@The Weasel. He wanted the Central Park 5 to be executed even after their innocence had been proven. He can never apologize or admit he screwed up.
2
Just watch and see what he does with freeing up the death penalty. Scary. Very, very scary.
1
If the president thinks he can take advantage of these horrific shootings by "marrying" them with immigration laws, he and his Republican enablers are "divorced" from reality.
5
@JustinWolfers:
"Pairing gun control measures in response to a white nationalist massacre with the sorts of immigration changes that white nationalists demand is grotesque."
5
In Trump’s call for immigration reform, he implicitly sympathizes with the shooter and blames Latinos for their horrific predicament.
The subtext is - if we had tough immigration reform, this man would not have been fearful of a Hispanic invasion and driven to murder 20 people, some of whom may be here illegally anyway (in Trump’s mind).
Odious. Appalling. Horrifying.
The media (and every elected official) better sink their teeth into this man and tear him apart. God forbid he gets inch closer to his White Nationalist agenda on the backs of the murdered and maimed victims.
5
Tying the two is not only political gamesmanship, but is an implicit (?) endorsement of the violence against immigrants (“if there were no illegal immigrants, people wouldn’t feel they have to kill them”). Yeah, right.
8
Is he trying to justify the El Paso killings by linking it to the immigration "invasion"? That's abhorrent.
6
Queridos mexicanos, Mexico should be demanding protections for its citizens and all Latin Americans who enter the U.S. and are being mistreated by this country.
3
So what exactly is behind these words, Mr. Trump? I fear it is another maneuver to hold hostage gun control reform in order for this man to double down on his cruel and racist ideology re immigration. His compassion for the grieving families left behind, his sorrow for those who were killed so horrifically is a ruse, a lie. Two separate entities, sir...immigration and domestic terrorism. The former involves the innocent attempting to escape violence and suppression; the latter is about home-grown, unhinged white men urged on by inflammatory rhetoric from the mouth of another unhinged white man darkening the People’s House.
2
He probably had his staff research how pardoning Patrick Crusius might impact his poll numbers before deciding to make this lame response.
7
Whatever Trump says couldn't possibly be good for America. Rule of thumb.
8
Trump’s idea does have a flavor of “give the killers what they want or we will let it happen again.”
10
Background checks are almost meaningless in an era of men openly waling around with machine guns that can mow down an entire street in a minute. Every gun other than legitimate hunting rifles should be outlawed, rounded up and destroyed.
7
“Hate has no place in our country.”
--- Donald Trump today.
How about in the Republican Party and at the White House, Mr. President?
11
People dying in the streets from white nationalist assault weapons. Trump calls for "new" immigration laws.
North Korea launches more missiles. Trump calls for "new" immigration laws.
The Flint Michigan water supply is killing children. Trump calls for "new" immigration laws.
The nation's infrastructure is crumbling. Trump calls for "new" immigration laws.
What won't "new" immigration laws cure, for our derpish president?
7
Trump still hasn’t condemned the anti-immigrant screed posted by the El Paso gunman.
I’m not surprised at all.
New rule: No media organization is allowed to report that someone is surprised to learn that Trump is a racist without directly challenging them as to how they’ve only just now arrived at that conclusion, and presented them with every other racist thing he’s ever done.
Donald Trump is a racist. Anyone who supports Donald Trump is at LEAST complicit in tormenting racial hatred that leads to these acts of domestic terror.
2
Trump reluctantly read from a script today, attacking white nationalism. We know he speaks out of both sides of his mouth.
The Republicans have once again gone to their talking-points of mental illness and video games as the cause of gun violence in America. These are red herring issues when it comes to stopping gun violence. Once again there will not even be incremental change, as passed by the two House gun control bills. McConnell will sit on his hands as usual.
3
Donald wants to reward the El Paso shooter. That white nationalist terrorist said in his manifesto that his goal was to stop Latinos from entering the US. And that's exactly what Donald aims to do with "immigration reform." So lets be perfectly clear. Donald is more than happy to use this tragedy to further the agenda he and the shooter share.
5
Trump says the internet is the problem; perhaps we could start with closing down Twitter.
9
Trump using the blood of innocent people to get what he wants. The issues with gun control has NOTHING to immigration. There are bills already sitting very dusty regarding gun control. If the GOP lick this idea and start barking happy barks, clearly we know we are AS DOOMED as we speak.
6
Donald Trump: “We must have something GREAT come out of these two tragic events.”
Are you kidding me?
This man, this president, has allowed these tragedies to linger. His Republican legislators have supported him. They have inspired these tragedies.
And he has the gall to use the word GREAT speaking in any part of this?
There is nothing, will be nothing, nor has there been anything GREAT, that he has done, no matter what legislation he may try to inspire. He has caused these present tragedies. His Republican Party has done nothing. His words mean nothing, because he knows nothing will happen that will mean anything, or prevent more tragedies. Just more of his downright pathetic leadership.
10
All Americans should be enraged and saddened by the incredibly insensitive and evasive speech Trump just gave. Scapegoating the mentally ill, the internet and videogames is feckless, typical, distracting ploy. Stand up to the NRA, abolish automatic weapons and the magazines that deliver carnage. Time for this POTUS to cease blaming everyone else for the problems he is supposed to be addressing, not denying because he and the GOP are too cowardly in putting money as their priority ahead of the lives of innocent victims.
10
Trump is amazingly different when reading from a teleprompter as opposed to speaking extemporaneously. Obviously, his people have told him that he needed to make some comments about white supremacist shootings. Let's see what he says at his next rally about Mexicans, Muslims Immigrants and Blacks. It is very difficult to reconcile this morning's speech with his comments about the "Panhandle" allowing shooting of Mexicans.
7
What do immigration laws have to do with gun control issues. The terrorists are white citizens of the U.S.? There’s no linkage between the two.
Mr. ‘I’m the best deal maker in the world” doesn’t know squat about government policy or how to form it. Everything is a real estate deal to him. So if he doesn’t get money for his wall, he’ll continue to let kids get murdered in elementary schools. And he’ll blame it on people who aren’t for the wall.
When will America wake up to this huckster? Of course, if you haven’t figured it by now you either can’t or don’t want to.
No sense being aghast by what happened this weekend. Mitch and company, to include the NRA will never allow things to change. Unfortunately is seems that everyone should live in a gated community and let Amazon drone in any needed items. Welcome to modern America. We’ve lost our soul.
6
So in effect, Trump is blaming the victims.
10
"President Trump on Monday called for Republicans and Democrats to work together to strengthen background checks for prospective gun buyers and proposed “marrying” new measures with new immigration laws." So Trump is basically embracing the core philosophy of the El Paso murderer.
6
on the issue of assault weapons:
MD already has the law and it was upheld by the federal appeals court in richmond in 2017.
Maryland's law bans 45 kinds of assault weapons and its 10-round limit on gun magazines.
In a 10-4 ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, said the guns banned under Maryland's law aren't protected by the Second Amendment.
all congress need do is COPY and PASTE it.
DONE!!
3
Why don’t we try something different to end these mass shootings? What if we start opposing the criminal ways of our empire? What about if we stop normalizing bombing people to pieces around the world? These domestic terrorists are not any different than the leaders of our ruling class and its members, who give orders to murder people beyond our shores on a daily basis. We have sociopaths among us because we enable sociopaths to rule over us. And they belong to both parties we are forced to choose from at every spectacle of democracy (elections) we are invited to participate. What a wonderful democracy we live in! We all have our choice of sociopaths to elect to office! Yay!
2
Trump is basically saying that there were good people on both sides of the shootings — the victims and the immigrant haters.
5
How can Trump say these things with a straight face?
3
The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang. This weekend was a clear manifestation of his dog whistle which sadly was heard and put into action. The blood of those people are on the hands of those whose lips remain sealed. Oh...did I hear him say “children”?
3
He might as well have suggested pairing tougher gun control laws to "when pigs fly".
2
Immigration law reform. Finally, a Trump idea that makes sense. If we stop immigrants from crossing the border, we won't kill them. That's what he meant...isn't it?
4
Lots of interest in meaningless gestures - very little interest in the real sorts of changes you would need to curb this hate. Its so much more than just gun control - its hate control. Your country is seemingly built to hate.
5
Someone please wake me when it's January 20,2021.
5
What Trump has said will never work you need to ban fire arms altogether nothing else will work for your country
why we have some violence in Canada well the US is in for a good part.
I will never set foot in America for it is too violent
2
Trump to America: ""You know what else they say about my people? The polls, they say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s like incredible."
He's just too much of a coward or afflicted by bone spurs, so he's holding out for some of his 'most loyal people' to help him out with his agenda of hate.
4
I do not trust Donald Trump at all. He will shade, twist or recant whatever he says to take the expedient path to keep the focus on his narcissistic, pathological need for exclusive attention.
5
It seems the only government with a clear path of action is Mexico.
2
So now fleeing migrants are the cause of gun violence?? Why do we have to have a president who poisons literally everything? Shame on him.
9
Well, Trump's address was stupid.
He told the American people we were being invaded. How are people supposed to act when their president tells them we're under attack by immigrants? Didn't this president get elected on the idea that if Hillary wanted to curb Second Amendment rights then his supporters ought to make use of the Second Amendment to stop her? 43 million people voted for him. Why aren't they shooting the invaders? Do they doubt the sincerity and the truth of words of the president?
2
@Max And Max
First, we're being invaded by immigrants from Central America, then he tells us we're being invaded by video games and a few unbalanced souls who take him at his word. Trump's a slumlord, turning a nice country into something less and then blaming us, his tenants, for breaking our lease. That lease is called Impeachment and we're going to take him to "Housing Court" and have him evicted from the Oval, aren't we?
1
It's a cynical gesture, meant to deflect from the fact that he and his enablers encouraged these massacres. Contemptible.
6
Empty words. Too late, Trump. 2 1/2 years of hate filled messages have validated the loons and dimbulbs with guns. They aren't insane they are indoctrinated.
6
I’m not going to listen to a word he says. It’s all meaningless tripe coming from his mouth. He set the fire. He doesn’t get credit for faking to try to put it out.
4
Toledo and Dayton are two DIFFERENT cities in Ohio!!! He doesn't know the difference? Also, since when does a President use such language to describe the alleged shooters? I can't remember his exact phrases but you can't use terms like "crazed monster" to describe someone especially if you're the president!!!!
4
Trump is pretending to offer something to democrats -- gun control legislation -- in exchange for their buy in on his racist immigration demands. He is bargaining, literally, with people's lives. But this is what he does. Always.
138
@rw
You give him too much credit.
Hannity wrote the speech. Trump doesn't know the diff between Toledo and Dayton.
IN the words of Rex Tillerson :"He's a moron".
8
@rw combining it with immigration makes it possible for him to blame dems for not giving him his wall and avoid real issues of his hate speech.
1
@rw
Ohio citizens reject Republican Governor standard baloney..."thoughts and prayers" and calls for "unity and remaining strong".
Ohioans are long past "thoughts and prayers and unity"
They want their Governor to "DO SOMETHING!"
3
NYTimes: PLEASE do a story comparing the number of people killed by M13 gangs--the anti immigration poster child--vs the number killed by white supremacists and white nationalists over the past few years. My guess is that far more have been killed by the latter. The threat is real, but Trump's blind followers do not want to believe it.
5
President just finished speaking. All in all, it was an excellant speeh with a few fumbles. But then you realize this man is fast cloasing in on 11000 lies and you have to wonder how much of his own speech he actually believes.
2
Does this man have any epathy, sympathy or any other emotion that goes along with grieving?
I wish I could use words stronger than vile & disgusting to describe what I feel about the White House's own "sick individual."
His you-give-me-this, I'll-give-you-that attitude whenever the people want him to act like a leader is just plain wrong! He'll stop at nothing to get what he wants no matter the situation. I can see him sitting w/his head honchos as his wheels spin in high velocity to come up a plan to get his own agenda passed.
Good people are being murdered in cold blood and all he wants to do is exploit our pain to another check mark on his to-do list???
I'm so angry since reading his gun control legislation "marrying" immigration laws I can hardly breath.
3
As usual, Trump's incompetence and racism rear their evil heads, also 2 of the biggest reasons to impeach him. Most mass shootings in this country have been by white home grown terrorists. By his reasoning, tough immigration laws will stop enraging white terrorists to kill people. Even gun owners don't want themselves or families killed in a hail of bullets. This terrible President needs to be impeached and all the Republicans who refuse to vote for stricter gun laws,need to be voted OUT. Vote as if your life depended on it, because it just might be true.
5
Send him back..
...and don't let him out of the Oval Office until he acknowledges his own role in inciting race-based violence as a way to energize his supporters.
4
This is like the movie plot where “a certain order” of society is held to the knife. Trump is designing two control knobs so that he and the “law makers” can tweak one or both to appease or displease the receivers intended.
3
The president's suggestion is a sign of his own racism. The fact that he has put these two topics together verifies his own blindness. What more must he do, people, to reveal his deficiencies? I cannot fathom why people support him.
15
The President just finished his speech.
OK we’re gonna temper video games and the internet.
Not one word on gun control
Mark one for the gun manufacturers
Mark zero for a sane America
10
We cannot control what others do or don't do. It comes down to choices. But the root of the matter is "white privilege" and not a homogenineous society (this would go against the grain of superiority based on race).
1
Trump's anti-immigrant crusade motivated the gunman, and now he only supports new gun laws if he gets his way on immigration laws? Pelosi should say "No way" to that deal.
8
Trump just finished his speech. Ok he did denounce while nationalism, good for that but I will wait to see if he can follow through personally with curtailing his hate speech.
So, once again dare not mention 'guns'. Instead his punitive focus on mental health is way off. It's not about forcing incarceration of the mentally ill, instigating the death penalty and punishing social media corporations for hate speech. He has always wanted to go after social media so this just fulfills a personal desire of his to thump his opponents. And no he does not look 'tough' when he talks about forced incarceration.
I will also wait for Wayne LaPierre's lunch or dinner at the White House to come soon and wait for Trump to back down as he did before.
Good thing for Trump and Moscow Mitch that Congress is on vacation! Just wait it out........
4
Trump is clearly a major cause for the increased racism and carnage in this country by relentlessly spewing hatred and divisiveness in his opposition to immigrants, rather than view i them as victims of circumstance, aiming to survive a dangerous and hopeless existence which inadvertently may benefit the country. Trump may not commit those crimes himself but he surely tacitly encourages those who identify with him to take the law in their hands.
5
Trump has created what he surely sees as a win/win scenario. When Democrats rightly reject his disingenuous offer Trump will say Democrats are unreasonable, his base gets to keep their guns, and Trump loses no votes in the process. Cynical doesn't begin to describe it.
7
I think there should be background checks, but the obvious, immediate fix is banning high-capacity semi-automatic weapons that incorporate features that were developed for battle. These weapons have no legitimate civilian purpose. (Sorry, hobbyists, you'll have to find another hobby that doesn't trample on everyone else's rights, freedoms and safety.) Civilians do not need these types of weapons to hunt, target shoot or protect themselves, and should not have access to them. The Second Amendment, written when military weapons were single-shot affairs, must not prevent us from adapting to the realities of modern firearms technology and the carnage it's enabling on our streets.
Make these weapons unavailable for sale, conduct a fair buy-back program like Australia did, and impose harsh penalties for anyone who's found to be in possession of these weapons without a special permit or waiver thereafter. That will all but eliminate mass shootings, which are but a tiny fraction of all firearms deaths in America.
As for preventing the rest, education is required to lay bare the NRA’s lies and repair demented aspects of our culture. The NRA exploits patriotism and personal insecurities to separate the gullible from their money – it’s all about profits before people, and there’s nothing patriotic or freedom-loving about that. And social media has enabled the spread of white supremacy and “incel” culture, so use data analytics to flag the people who visit these sites regularly.
5
Very unfortunate events - but it's likely that there will be outrage and mourning for a couple of weeks, then the victims and their families will be forgotten and left to fend off for themselves by Labor Day week end. Gun controls? Sandy Hook, Parkland, Virginia Tech, Columbine, Charleston church and too many others did not even move the needle...
6
Linking gun control with immigration reform is Trump's lame attempt at blaming the victims.
8
Trump, even in a moment of tragic loss cannot summon up anything approaching a soul. Linking gun safety measures to immigration laws shows that he is not serious and just bloviating. He has no plan. He offers no solutions.
5
The shootings are now an American norm, just as driving large pickup trucks and SUV’s is an American norm.
So, the underlying belief of America is that human life is expendable, and even the small step of driving smaller vehicles to aid in reducing Climate Change is beyond the ken of Americans.
3
How will the person who used threats of NRA 'action' (see the 2016 debates) while seriously encouraging division if not hate between his base and his perceived opposition, be expected to play a positive role in countering the very insanity with which he is deeply causally associated?
Not since 1861 has the US faced such sickening social insanity. What is really scary though is that in 1861 we had a warm, intelligent, caring president.
5
I think Trump is calling out the legislature: OK Dems, you want tighter gun controls then work with Repubs on immigration reform( and vice versa). Lack of adequate rules on both are causing deplorable situations. He's not suggesting that the issues are linked in substance. Instead, commonality between the 2 is that they're are both examples of how the feckless congress, through its intransigence and inaction, has allowed things to get out of hand.
2
Learned two things so far today: the president CAN read and recite - not at a literate adult level, certainly; but he can do it - and that whomever wrote what he was reading has absolutely no place at the helm of our country's domestic or foreign policies.
Did we catch the "guns don't kill people" inference? The mental health plea from someone consistently denying aid and assistance to same? And...video games? (though the plea for a less violent culture was laudable. Ivanka's idea?).
The line that got Trump emotional was calling for the death penalty. Question: how does threatening a murderer walking into almost certain suicide or "death by cop" with the death penalty seem like a deterrent?
15
@James
To your question: The death penalty doesn't deter. On the contrary. In the case of white supremacists, it just creates martyrs.
P.S. Trump did read better but he (and his writer) still got things wrong: Note that he said "May God bless the people who perished in Toledo."
He can't even get the name Dayton right, even though it has been repeated thousands upon thousands of times in the last two days and he spoke to its mayor this morning.
2
Before we can have a uniquely American debate about guns and school safety, we need to read the Second Amendment in its entirety and just as importantly within its constitutional and historical context.
Though the Second Amendment is remarkably brief, its opening participial phrase clearly indicates “a well regulated militia” is the sole reason for an armed citizenry.
Also crucial in determining its intent is the amendment’s place in the Constitution’s historical timeline. Article 1, Section 8 of the US Constitution specifies congressional duties, predates the ratification of the Second Amendment, and therefore creates the context and conditions that necessitated its passage.
Article 1, Section 8:
"To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress."
Congress is supposed to have full control of militias –– the current mess yet another instance of cowardly congressional failures.
A "well-regulated militia," done right, would weed out citizens who had neither the mental/emotional stability to own a gun nor the expertise to use one properly.
8
@Gluscabi
This is an important post. It presents the Constitution's own definition of a 'well-regulated militia.' It by no means includes the right of individuals to purchase and hoard their own, personal arsenal of military grade weapons, to be used in some imagined stand-off with the federal government.
I have copied and pasted this post to a note I shall keep on my desktop for future reference. If there's ever a Second Amendment case before the Supreme Court, I shall be very interested to see how the "Originalists" and "Strict Constructionists" frame their arguments.
3
Let the line in the sand be drawn here. President Trump's every tweet, press event, policy statement, and political rally should be closely examined for his commitment to condemn domestic white nationalist terrorism. And that commitment should stand alone, de-coupled from other policies and legislation.
5
We can't rely on Trump for anything. Nothing he says will help. We don't need to hear from him on this subject or any other. His past words and deeds render him irredeemable. People should stop saying, "Here is what Trump could do ..." or "Here is what Trump should do ..." The only thing we need him to do is resign.
12
Since President Trump took office for the past 2.5 years, there have been 29 shootings, 249 fatalities and 727 injuries from mass shootings (defined as 3 or more). During President Obama's entire 8 year term, there were 38 shootings, 313 fatalities and 314 injuries.
If this pace continues, then over 4 years, Trump will have 46 shootings and 398 fatalities, more than Obama had in 8 years.
That facts make it clear that mass shootings have gotten far worse. Leadership, rhetoric, values, and the example of our President matter. A change is needed.
142
@Dan
Yes...those numbers are accurate.
But were the fatalities under Obama's watch caused by Obama's rhetoric or Trump's racist rhetoric, i.e., his "birtherism" rants and other racist remarks? I wonder...
8
...and Trump says, blah, blah, blah... and takes no personal responsibility for the heated social environment he is constantly stoking. On the optimistic side, maybe, just maybe the House bill on gun control will shake loose and find passage in a form that retains some teeth. But that is a very optimistic hope given that Mitch McConnell would actually have to legislate.
5
@Dan
Good points.
Don't forget to add the fact that Republicans have been desperate to steal and sabotage the health care that is now caring for so many injured from Republican gun violence. After all, ask all these thugs what party they support.
A change in party is needed in order to deal with gun related massacres.
5
That "deeper and even more troubling" message that this coverage alludes to is the unsurprising justification for this terrorist act given by the parasite in our White House.
How many revisions did Princess Ivanka have to make to his Twitter decree that the real problem is not racial terrorism, but the presence of those "others" in the U.S.? The only surprise here is that it took him so long to simply say, "Crusius had his reasons."
8
trump’s political cynicism is simply breathtaking.
20
Link a mass murder to the negotiation of immigration policy? No. No. No. The behavior of mass murderers does not get a seat at the negotiating table. "If you'll agree with our immigration policy, we might be willing to start thinking about maybe talking about giving lip service to protecting the American people form daily mass murders." Insane.
More pretzel logic from the twisted mind of Stephen Miller.
19
@A Nobody Exactly: it's the equivalent of negotiating with Al Queda after 9/11.
Too late for El Paso to say hate won’t define it. It already has. The days of the Wild West should be over but as long as there is the NRA and white supremacists like Trump the shooting will go on there and elsewhere. Only sensible gun control like that in other sensible countries will halt the random shootings.
3
Stephen miller did it..... he formed the words for trump to say that make the killing of immigrants a cause for immigration reform.
read: "keep 'em out by all means"
but it's just politics to trump..... I wonder if the "something great" immigration reform will be as good as his healthcare plan?
5
Ok, fine. So he can read a speech someone else wrote for him. After all, they're just words on paper. Trump seems to think this little recitation absolves him from any responsibility.
Think again. Who else has done more to aid and abet bigotry, racism, and division over the past 3 years?
8
trump’s speech left out his personal responsibility for fostering racism and hate in this country. He should not attempt to divert the spotlight from his ruinous presidency. trump may offer some ideas on how to stop the next massacre, but until he is out of office his rallies will continue to foster an atmosphere of hate in this country. Every member of Congress must condemn trump in the strongest terms. No one should vote for trump except to impeach and convict him.
6
Let’s “marry” Trump being kicked out of office with Pence being kicked out of office.
Then we can focus on humanity, on being kind and decent and hopeful, and living up to the Statue of Liberty, not the NRA.
17
moosemaps,
McConnell and Congressional Republicans can be in the bridal party.
It seems that the only way to solve the problem of gun violence in this country is to vote out all Republicans. Full stop.
5
Moscow Mitch has House gun control bills sitting on his desk that he refuses to bring to a vote in the Senate. BTW - there is strong evidence that Russia has been funding the NRA to keep conflict going in America.
22
Trump's remarks were made purely for political reasons to provide him cover for the 2020 election. He decried hate but did not promise to stop his own hateful speech or at least stop saying things that may prompt haters to act. I'm not impressed.
6
GREAT? Why does everything POTUS attempt have to be GREAT? I'd be happy with something that reflects justice, common sense and decency. Linking gun control with immigration? Seems like an attempt to blame the rampant gun violence on immigrants. Another Trumpian example of the GREAT show man.
5
And that's all he is.
If shooting of immigrants leads to immigration reform, shooting will be come _the_ way to get your way. The shooter will be hailed as a hero by the millions who oppose immigration. Remember Trump’s suggestion that “Second Amendment people” could prevent Hillary from appointing judges if she’s elected?
9
Stronger background checks to prevent gun violence won’t work. It reveals that Trump has no insight into the silent inner workings of the minds of the mentally fragile.
In fact, Trump himself seems to be totally oblivious to his own senile fragility when most of us are fully aware of it. Oh, he doesn’t shoot bullets but he does shoot hate in every direction.
Since the mentally ill are often silent in their suffering, it behooves we the people to protect them and us by firm gun laws. Nothing else will do.
7
Are Trump's critics even capable of hearing his words at this point. I don't believe they are. First, they criticize him for not coming out against these acts of violence. Now they refuse to accept or hear what he's said.
1
@AACNYI would like to believe that POTUS will finally stand up to gun money and do the right thing.
The problem is that Dishonest Don's words mean nothing .
What he says today will be reversed tomorrow as soon as some gun lobbyist gets his attention. This man has no moral center and no attention span.- he jumps from shiny object to shiny object.
5
Ban bullets today. The President should sign an executive order acknowledging a national emergency and immediately ban the sale and manufacture of bullets. He could do this using the ‘unitary executive’ authority he claims as he breaks other laws and norms. Let the courts work out the longer term balance, but force 2nd Amendment absolutists to fight back from a position of weakness rather than relying on the monopoly they now hold in Congress. Of course a black market would develop, but it would provide nowhere near the supply we currently have. Restricting guns alone is a mostly useless step, that horse is not just out of the barn but has left the county.
I have no illusion that Mr. Trump will do this, but hopefully our next President will recognize this crisis for what it is.
6
Just watched the press conference by Donald Trump live. He mentioned 'we cannot feel powerless', you can indeed not. You are the legislated power choosen by the people to protect them. Yet, your doing nothing.
Reform the gun laws on a national level, it is absolutely bonkers. Trump mentioned three reasons which lay at the base of the shootings. One of them was Videogames. Really? Videogames did this? Back in the Columbine-shooting days it was said the kids were influenced by Marilyn Manson. Take away the means for why these structural shootings happen: guns, guns and guns.
Politicians in the USA who are against changing gun laws have lost every piece of honesty, soul and humanity. History will judge them, unfortunately, fixed in their own bubble they dont care.
"The gun does not pull the trigger ", Trump said. No. Indeed. The gun should not be there in the first place Donald.
13
First off, If he'd stop shooting off his mouth with inflammatory remarks: shooting [immigrants] only happens on the panhandle, send them back, etc. etc., that would help. Also, why is he equating immigration reform with gun control? My take is he believes that, if people weren't trying to immigrate (from non-white countries), members of his base would not be shooting at them. His definition of "reform", we know, is building a massive wall. What other immigration "reforms" does he have in mind?
I respect that this is a site where one has to be polite; therefore, I can't state my opinion in blunter terms.
3
Great! Happy he said it. Unfortunately he’s lost all credibility with the country.
3
The idea of pairing immigration reform with gun control legislation has the stench of a Stephen Miller idea all over it. Trump truly is, as Steve Bannon said years ago. "the blunt instrument of the alt-right."
7
Trump failed to specifically mention that he would push for background checks nor did he mention gun lobbyists or the NRA. Most significantly, he failed to reassure the public that he would refrain from anti-immigrant remarks and attacks on people of color.
5
We should ALL know by now that Trump is never sincere and that nothing will change. His next tweet will completely undo what he said in his speech re: 'bringing us together'. His racist 'brand' ONLY works when he is dividing people. Dems (and all concerned citizens) need to pressure Moscow Mitch to return to Washington to vote on gun control legislation. That should be the goal. Donnie, as always, is the problem.
7
Gun safety laws proposed by Mitch McConnell and his Republican peers will be something along the lines of not allowing immigrants being held in detention centers from carrying fire arms, or not allowing prisoners currently on death row to own assault rifles.
Nothing, including the deaths of hundreds of innocent children and adults will make Republicans implement meaningful gun safety laws. The division this issue creates in voters has always benefitted the Republican party, and in Mitch’s world the benefits of that support far out-way all the deaths.
5
There is a very strong gun lobby, but why isn't there an anti-gun lobby? One that does everything the NRA does but opposite: funds gun control candidates, grades candidates on gun safety and control, etc. I would donate to them and that would the first political donation I would ever make, and I'm a Republican.
1
@Not 99pctThere is not a strong anti gun lobby because you cannot make money by not selling guns and ammo.
Guns are a Giffen Good - their popularity defy the laws of supply and demand.
1
@bobbybow It would get funding from donors and corporations, I'm sure plenty of corporations would love to give themselves the moral pat on the back and donate. MADD lobbies and they are a similar 'anti' organization.
So unless Trump gets his wall, Americans can keep dying by the dozens in mass shootings?
28
Putting the Trump show aside for a moment, an assault weapons ban is needed even more urgently now than stronger background checks. In both the El Paso and Dayton shootings, the death toll was especially high because the shooters used assault type semi-automatic rifles. These are not legitimate self-defense weapons and they are designed to cause maximal carnage in the shortest amount of time. That's exactly what happened here. The Dayton shooter was able to kill 9 people in 20 seconds. That's insane! Assault weapons must be banned, and this issue should take priority over stronger background checks.
7
No, let's not turn this into Let's Make A Deal to satisfy his need for diversion. Fix guns. Fix immigration. No horse trading on unrelated issues that get tied together when they are not.
19
Am I missing something in the U.S. reporting of the Dayton shooting?
On Sunday morning, I woke up to a text from a friend in France asking if I was in Dayton; he was concerned because of news of a racially motivated shooting there. The media in France seems to have reported Dayton as a hate crime. The majority of the Dayton victims are black, and from video footage of the scene, the targeted bar seems to have had a mostly black clientele that night.
People are linking Trump's xenophobic rhetoric to the shooting in El Paso; but I think we can also link his race-baiting rhetoric to the shooting in Dayton.
11
@dcbcn — The Dayton shooter had serious issues with violent ideation going back to high school. His sister and two or three white men were also victims. The fact that the majority were African-Americans is just tragic coincidence. He was headed toward a crowded bar before he was killed, which the Dayton mayor said would have led to mass, indiscriminate death. There is really no correlation with the motives of him and the El Paso shooter, at least as of right now. If a reason is needed, call it true mental illness.
I just watched Trump's press conference at about 10 Monday morning. His first few lines describing the problems of hate and bigotry sounded as if they might be introspection, but since Trump is amoral and certainly has no self-awareness, I waited.
And surely enough the evil con man bobbed weaved, telling us what great things he would do to stop a scourge that he does not even recognize he created, and still continues to create with his rule by hateful tweet.
Without recognizing that his own behavior and speech are a great part of the problem, Trump is again compartmentalizing and not recognizing cause and effect.
15
@Katherine - Trump recognizes it, he's just not acknowledging it. He is one of the key present causes of it.
3
If we thought there might be a 'chance' at some type of common sense gun control after this week, we are sadly mistaken.
There is a proverb, "If you do the right things, you don't have to worry."
I'm worried more now than I was yesterday.
5
i’m looking for words to describe the degeneration of American politics today. “I will do the right thing if you give me,” something totally unrelated, is not compromise.
The current president is the standard bearer for dysfunctional politics. He causes problems and then pats himself on the back for his attempts to fix them. His hateful rhetoric is a catalyst for hateful actions and he offers a minimum solution if he can extort support for a campaign promise.
It will be hard enough balancing the constitutional right to bear arms with a practical solution to real deadly internal terrorism without the trump version of politics.
Internal terrorism is a stand alone issue. Let’s see how our “leaders” address this without making this a compound issue. Let’s not give the vipers in Washington an excuse to claim they’re working for us by complicating the issue with unrelated noise. No more opportunity to claim you want to support one issue but you can’t because of another issue.
Compromise within an issue but one issue at a time so the citizens of our country can hold you accountable for where you stand on each and every issue.
7
Linking gun control (well only non defined background checks) to immigration "reform" is of course a non starter. But will allow Trump and cohort to blame the Democrats for inaction while pleasing the NRA.
4
Instead of criticizing Trump for trying to marry gun control with immigration reform, why not call his bluff? We need comprehensive immigration reform-there was a bill passed 68-32 in the Senate during the Obama administration that Boehner refused to take up in the House so revive that bill, put it together with an assault rifle ban and strong background checks and see what happens? Probably nothing but would certainly call Trump out for another “broken “promise!
5
Because he’s not actually serious about either issue. Republicans oppose comprehensive immigration reform AND assault weapons bans/universal background checks so why would combining the two make passage any easier? Makes no sense. Moreover, if Democrats were able to horse trade and somehow get real gun control in exchange for something like wall finding (which his base would likely never tolerate anyway), they’d be sending the implicit message that the two issues are somehow linked, which they are not. The fact that an American president would suggest such a deal just hours after an unspeakable tragedy perpetrated by an armed killer fueled a white supremacist view of immigration is truly mind boggling. It suggests he’s either sympathetic to the ideas expressed by the shooter (who in fact mirrored much of Trump’s language to justify his actions) or he’s so fixated on his own personal agenda he can’t step outside of himself for the good of the nation. Either way, he can’t be reasoned with.
1
The problem is the Republican party. They refuse to do anything about gun violence in this country and are responsible for the situation we're in by kowtowing to the gun lobby.
But we can't wait until 2020 for action. If you have Republican members of Congress, please call them today and tell them to pass the legislation Democrats have been begging them to sign for years.
8
Stopping these type of events will require a society wide mobilization. It will require stronger gun laws. Better mental health care. Some type of policing of internet based hate speech. Compulsory registration of all guns, and a penalty for possessing a gun not registered. A stringent mental health screening for gun purchasers. A gun buy back program. A demand from every citizen for this to stop.
4
The right to bear arms does not mean the right to own ANY arms.
To have a well regulated militia that is effective in today’s world would require arms such as nuclear weapons, laser-guided missiles and other arms of mass destruction.
But, we the people and our “well-regulated militias” do not have such arms.
So, a bar has been set indirectly that limits what arms we have the right to bear.
Lowering that bar to prohibit automatic weapons and large magazines does not infringe upon the second amendment. We could lower the bar to having the right to bear arms that are of the same effect as those existing when the Constitution was signed.
But, I’m preaching to the choir here.
4
Very often issues are linked to other popular bills. Criticism of this method is just a red herring.
@AACNY These are two very complex issues. Combining them is a recipe for failure, which is Trump's purpose. Good bills have been proposed individually for each issue. They should be deliberated, negotiated, and passed as stand-alone issues. Pretending that they are related, pretending that the El Paso shooter was somehow justified by the presence of illegal immigrants (as you did in many of your posts yesterday), is despicable and shows a grave disregard for the ongoing human cost of gun violence.
4
@AACNY
OK. But why not tie it Healthcare reform?
Wouldn't that make more sense?
3
@AACNY
No it is not. It is a cynical move by a con man. This is the same person who joked when a racist at one of his rallies said the solution to immigration was to shoot immigrants. Sorry but you are wrong for defending Trump on this.
3
So Trump dehumanized immigrants, then someone posts a manifesto using a number of phrases the president himself has used, and massacres twenty people because they look like Latinos,
Now Trump wants to tie gun reform to changes in immigration laws? This is unbelievable.
He wants to make this tragedy a campaign issue! I can hear him now shouting at a rally, "I would do something about guns, but Democrats want to allow these people into our country and change who we are far more than they want to reduce gun violence!"
What a selfish, cynical man. I am sick to my stomach.
34
Do Americans really care what Trump has to say anymore?
31
As I interpret Trump's statement, suggesting the marriage of background checks to immigration reform is tantamount to demanding a continuation of the status quo.
Guns and immigration are two issues on which members of congress have been intransigent for years, so crafting a bill with BOTH issues tied together is pure folly (plus, in 2018, when presented with an immigration bill that he'd promised to sign if it had bipartisan support, he promptly reneged on his promise). And he knows this. He just wants to say the right thing so that any lack of progress on both of these issues to be someone else's fault.
As usual, Trump wants to APPEAR to be doing something without actually doing anything. His words are meaningless. I'd line the bottom of my bird cage with Trump's words... if I had a bird.
13
Mass shootings have been a constant for decades. But no meaningful actions have ever been taken. Until now. First aid organizations are advocating the need for every American to carry a bleed pack with them whenever they go to malls, churches, synagogues, schools, festivals and any public place. That’s where we are. It is a grotesque commentary on our culture that we have become a nation unwilling to confront epidemic mass violence with strong, resolute action. Where is our civic responsibility? Where is our willingness to balance gun rights with the rights of all Americans not to live in fear and wonder whether they need to buy a bleed pack.
5
By his personal bigotry, by the words and tone of his campaign, Trump set the stage for the events in El Paso. What do you think he means when he has rallies with supporters shouting "Build the Wall" and Send them Back"? If Trump is the best candidate Republicans can put forward in 2020, what does that say about the Republican Party? What does that say about the character of his supporters?
13
"Married" to immigration reform? This sounds extremely tricky. I'd believe that trump is sincere about gun laws if he doesn't put this together with his prejudicial ideas about immigrants.
81
@J.Sutton,
Trump is a political opportunist and will use whatever means he has to in order to save face, deflect responsibility, and place the negative outcomes of his own and his parties' behavior onto the Democrats. Anything he proposes will come from that place, rather than actual problem-solving. He will look to gain whatever he can for himself out of this.
10
@J.Sutton I see the way this will go: Democrats will refuse to sign the bill because of its connection to immigration. Then trump and the Republicans can blame the Democrats for not passing gun laws.
5
@J.Sutton
Trump is obviously blackmailing Congress to get his bigotry codified with the carrot and stick of Gun legislation. It indicates how truly cold blooded he is.
6
There is already passed legislation on background checks sitting on Mcconnell¡s desk. Have him bring the Senate back for all of a day, pass the bill and hand it Donald trump to sign. This had long since been argued and discussed and deliberated, and is RESOLVED. Just do it. What is the problem with something an overwhelming majority want to see and have been waiting years for?
10
Now that President Trump has called for gun regulation, Nancy Pelosi should remind him that Mitch McConnell is currently refusing to bring two such bills recently passed in the House to the floor of the Senate for a vote. Republicans have adamantly refused to consider universal background checks, closing the gun show loophole, banning assault weapons like to one used in El Paso, and limiting the size of ammunition clips. Speaker Pelosi must use this opportunity to convene the House in an emergency session and pass such an omnibus "Save American Lives" gun regulation bill. It's time for action; it's time to put the president and Republican Senate to the test. It's time to stop protecting the gun lobby and to start protecting American lives.
257
@Paul Wortman
In 2017, Trump revoked an order by Obama limiting access to guns for those adjudicated mentally ill. Although the order was sweeping (using Social Security numbers of people receiving disability benefits for mental illnesses), Trump had two years to push the (then) GOP majority in both houses to provide comprehensive gun control legislation.
We'll see if Mitch McConnell's shoulder "issue" prevents him from having the Senate call an emergency session to deal with this.
12
@Paul Wortman
Maybe when someone uses one of those weapons to shoot at Mitch McConnell (not that I advocate this) Republicans will finally find a modicum of virtue in gun control. Honestly, it would be worth the lives saved and the high point of what is, to this observer, a career that borders on treasonous.
2
@Paul Wortman My realization is that if the GOP and a share of Dem enablers of the NRA didn't change gun policy after Newtown, nothing will ever change. Sadly, nothing has, and more poor people are dying, thousands are being cruelly injured and we have a complicit POTUS who seeks political gain by spewing division and hatred.
3
Background checks in America are ineffective. Yes, they've made a difference but overall, not so much. They depend on data bases that are incomplete, on computer systems that need upgrading and on absence of human error in entering data. What about gun fairs? No background checks there. Travel the South and Midwest and you'll see highway signs advertising upcoming gun fairs. For those wanting to avoid being background checked, gun fairs are the place to go. If I were looking for a person to offer comprehensive and meaningful improvement to our gun chaos, Donald Trump would not be who I'd call.
4
Immigrants are not doing the shooting folks; we are. He has to get his way and this is how?
54
Marrying background checks with immigration reform? Immigration has nothing to do with this other than the motive of a white supremacist. Paying lip service to that motive while people mourn the loss of innocent lives is not only disrespectful, it’s Un-American. This person MUST be removed from office in 2020.
37
Wait - because if the immigrants hadn't been in Texas in the first place, there wouldn't have been anyone to shoot? Astounding that there will be many who will actually follow this reasoning as sound.
44
By linking guns and immigration, Trump’s making it clear he doesn’t want to do anything.
He’ll read someone’s else words off a TelePrompTer and nothing will happen.
If it was up to Trump, he wouldn’t give a speech since that entails work, something our lazy commander in chief has no interest in.
I’ll bet that the President’s greedy daughter is behind the speech. Not that she cares a wit about the victim. Instead all that selfish grifter cares about is whether her brand is being damaged.
34
This is grossly disingenuous. Linking gun control and immigration is basically guaranteeing NOTHING will happen and Trump knows this but he can toot his horn later and say he tried gun control.
So, he is using politics to continue NRA policy and continue mass killings.
25
As usual, the president is coming up with poison pill piece of legislation that marries two very disparate goals.
He is already politicizing a tragedy by trying to induce Democrats to vote for background checks in the same piece of legislation that cracks down further on immigration.
Leave it to him! It's absurd to try to marry the two, that have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, except that both issues inflame the public--gun safety inflames Republicans, immigration inflames Democrats.
This president isn't proposing a solution, he's creating new problems out old ones. His refusal to accept accountabililty for his racist rhetoric is abhorrent. I see no way out of the sick morass this country has fallen into, under his "leaderhip."
How many more killings do we have to endure until Republicans grow a spine and stop kowtowing to this morally unfit president?
35
The Democratic-led House has passed a background check law. Massacre Mitch McConnell has refused to bring it up for a vote in the Senate. Donald Trump said he'd veto it regardless. THIS is your GOP America. If you vote for Republicans, this will never stop.
31
Since both shooters were white men and citizens of America, why has Trump hooked gun control up with immigration reform?
Would it be so as to make it appear if Democrats don't vote for this double bill, then it is obvious that they don't want immigration reform?
Or would it possibly be that the connection of immigration reform is his main objective and by the time the House and Senate (with Moscow Mitch presiding) water down the gun law, only immigration will be important?
14
trump asserts "hate has no place in this country". It sure has a place at trump rallies! It sure has a place in immigration policy espoused by trump's senior advisor Steven Miller who is the instigator of the cruel travesty on the south border . It sure has place in Muslim travel bans imposed willy nilly. trump's words are gallingly hollow.
34
By artificially tying this to immigration, it sounds like Trump won't do anything about guns and public safety unless his racist impulses are satisfied too. He needs to be impeached. He's making everyone less safe.
11
Keep stomping on our country's neck President Trump.
How horrendously cynical is his offer to marry background checks with so-called immigration reform.
He is asking for a doubtlessly xenophobic and cruel anti-immigration bill in exchange for small reforms like a background checks.
Will congress comeback from recess to help? Does anyone even really need to ask that question?
11
The man has no shame and no soul. Using these events to press his political agenda is beyond belief. Only, of course, it isn't...
14
Get rid of the guns. Take away the guns. No more assault weapons. If you want protection? Get rid of the guns. There is a direct correlation between the number of guns and the number of deaths. If you care, you must be in favor getting rid of the guns. If you want to be complicit in these deaths, blindly support what you think the second amendment says. I’ve said enough. I am sick over this and now a single issue voter.
25
If Trump's words about gun control and immigration came out of the mouth of any other President in America's recent history, they would be a welcome and constructive attempt to solve two important, though unrelated, crises in current American life.
But because we know Trump and what his agenda and source of power are, we have to read his words as meaning, in essence, "Let's get rid of as many Latinos and Latino immigrants as possible, restore white domination, and then we won't need to have guns available to the crazies who want to kill them.
Trump is poisoning America.
15
It's amazing that Trump wants to introduce tougher immigration laws as a bargaining chip for background checks for gun buyers when it was the very hatred of immigrants that Trump has voiced and acted on time after time that motivates killers such as in El Paso and elsewhere. This is where the political system has landed under Trump and other Republicans: the basement!
10
It is a clever strategy. Democrats who oppose any restrictions on immigration are simultaneously opposing any restrictions on guns.
2
@Richard Winchester
Remember any president cannot introduce legislation, so there's nothing to stop the House from writing 2 separate bills, forcing the Republicans to make a choice. If this is a 'strategy' by Trumpbo, it only serves to demonstrate that he has no clue how our Constitution and government actually work.
Universal background check legislation, HR 8, passed the House in February, 2019. All that is necessary is for the self-described "Grim Reaper," Moscow Mitch, to bring it to the Senate floor. (One also notes how appropriate "Grim Reaper" is to our situation, but that is a matter for another day.)
Pairing HR 8 with immigration legislation is nothing but a cynical politicization of these tragedies, politicization precisely decried by the gun lobby in the past.
10
I moved to Canada years ago, but I still worry everyday for my family that still lives in the states. Honestly, when you consider the health care system, divisive rhetoric from the president, the lack of political will to do anything about guns, etc., I don't understand why people don't realize, you don't have to live that way. The political system is rigged too much, we saw that in the Democratic primary in 2016. For all of his faults, Trump is right about one thing... I didn't like the state of the US, so I left and haven't looked back.
10
Translation of Trump's dog-whistled suggestion to "marry" immigration reform and background checks for gun purchasers:
"If they weren't invading our country, disturbed people with guns would have no reason to shoot them in the first place."
Do not put it past Trump to eventually say these words right out loud.
10
The Mexican nationals who were murdered and injured in El Paso were NOT immigrants. They were here to shop, just as many Americans in El Paso cross over and back every day to Juarez-to shop, to visit relatives, to go to a doctor’s appointment, etc., etc.
Yes, El Paso has a large Latino population-but they were here FIRST. Southern Texas was Spanish speaking before it was English speaking. Why do you think the city is called El Paso, not The Pass.
Saying there would be no shooting of Hispanic people if there were no Hispanic people may be the most obscene statement any president has ever made.
I can’t help but wonder whether the Dayton shooter attended the the trump rally two nights earlier in Cincinnati (forty-five minutes away).
6
@Pat
To be honest, I already had to correct another person today for jumping to conclusions. We know nothing at present about the politics of the Dayton shooter. The El Paso shooter is getting more coverage simply because we know more about him.
Immigration laws for Saudis? Saudis such as Bin Laden family after 911. Saudis in private jets awaiting court dates in Oregon disappear on private jets.
I'd like the president to answer to the privileged Saudis who murder without U.S.condemnation, who move in and out of the country only because they buy bombs and aircraft for war against civilians giving Blackstone 30 billion to control infrastructure we are paying taxes on.
Who is running this show? U.S. citizens or the Saudi kingdom and their oil?
Republicans have declared over and over that pipelines will make us independent and prices of gasoline will go down. Another lie.
I'd like to see this administration lock up Saudi murderers in the U.S. in cages instead of children, but they allow them free 24 hour a day access on private jets.
2
We'll see what he has to say this a.m. But Melania standing by her man yesterday made me sick. Is the press afraid of losing their "creds" if they holler a question to her about bullying, or ask her if she can stop her husband from being a Nationalist? He says "hatred has no place in our country,we're going to take care of it" . Press: HOW WHEN! What about Gun Reform? What does Baron think about it?
2
On Saturday, a White American Nationalist terrorist seeking to defend himself from an invasion of crime, invaded El Paso and murdered 20 people. This was double the amount of people killed by homicides in ALL of El Paso in all of 2017. In 2018 it was 23. The average number of homicides over the last 15 years had hovered around 18, making El Paso a very safe city for its size.
For Trump to discuss his kind of immigration reform with what happened in El Paso tells all of us that he think the shooter was justified in his actions. That he believes that we truly are being invaded and the shooter was protecting himself. It’s so insulting and offensive, it’s beyond words.
4
If Trump is serious he will call congress back into session, address both houses of congeess in front of the American people and ask that common-sense gun reform laws and background checks to be voted on in a timely manner.
This is what a leader and a deal maker would do. I hope it happens.
6
@Mister Mustard
President Trump has already implemented a "bump stock" ban. (This is the device that allows guns to shoot in rapid succession.) There's no reason to believe he won't support this as well.
No more talk.
Ban all weapons, such as assault weapons, that belong in the military only.
11
Hello, American friends. I'm sad to inform you that world respect for you is plummeting. So many of you still seem convinced that everyone secretly or not-so-secretly wishes they could be you. You're wrong. It's become normal in the land of Not America to hear, "No, I'd never go to [insert American geography] because they're insane down there". The rest of the world is standing around chewing their fingernails while the bedrock nation of democracy follows its ridiculous constitution right into the abyss, dragging us all down with it. It's like England still used the Magna Carta as their constitution. It would be like us Canadians still needing to ask the Queen if it was ok to make our own laws. Your "Second Amendment" freaks don't care about anything else in the Constitution but what serves their purpose. Your Electoral College belongs back in the 18th Century. Your politicians sabotage every social reform by paying endless lip service to the most outdated institutions in the modern world, like "free speech" (hate speech), "bearing arms" (reserving the right to self-interested violence), "security" (corruption and graft), "the republic" (the rich have any right they can buy), and so on. Sticking the word "democratic institutions" on anything and everything doesn't make it democratic, any more than your endless (boring) obsessions with immigrants keeps you safe in a country which seems to have no interest in human rights. Other than talking about it, of course.
20
@Adam. I would recommend your post 10 times if I could. You are so right. I have siblings and friends in Europe but they will not visit me in the US because they do perceive it as dangerous and crazy. They ask why I am still here, I am starting to question my reasons to stay as well. If I could take all the people I love with me, the decision would be easy.
1
@Adam Richards Just don't lump us all together. We're not all Trump supporters.
Trump's linking of gun laws and immigration reform, in the wake of a mass murder motivated by anti-immigrant white nationalist ideology, is outrageous. It is a legislative version of "very fine people on both sides."
This president is so devoid of compassion and basic human decency that he can't even respond to the murder of dozens of people properly. He is implicitly (or perhaps explicitly) validating the ideology of the shooter in his response. If there was any doubt that this so-called president sympathizes with white supremacists and xenophobes, this tweet should erase it.
To respond to the murder of dozens of innocent people -- many of them Hispanic, some American citizens, some Mexicans -- in a border town with a call for immigration reform is despicable and an insult to the victims, their families, and everyone with a heart.
509
@DGT in CT set aside your moral outrage for a moment and seize on the potential opportunity to push through gun reform. as a nation, we have had enough moral outrage and "thoughts and prayers" which result in zero progress. if giving POTUS $6b for a wall results in universal firearms background checks, the nation is better off and both sides get something they want. dealmaking is how DC used to work.
3
@DGT in CT couldn't agree with you more, and couldn't say this more eloquently than you have. Thank you.
14
@Strategery but this deal, by validating the shooter's concerns, encourages more massacres and domestic terrorism. Compromise is important, but not when it undermines the whole point.
27
The despicable and sordid audacity of Trump suggesting to tie in gun legislation with immigration is appalling to say the least. This man clearly has no empathy for those killed and injured this past weekend or for any of the victims that preceded this latest shooting and blames everyone and everything else but himself.
Where’s the outrage from Texas senators John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, Moscow Mitch, the Ohio Congress and the rest of Trump’s GOP clan?
11
You think this is New Zealand or something. ?
Nothing will change
And expect Trump to create a distraction
before the end of the week.
13
Essentially the nation is leaderless which is apparent by the vacuum in the WH in confronting this most recent tragic mass killing. Moscow Mitch is vacationing and has no inclination to do anything. What we’re left with now is the precarious situation of an un-indicted criminal in the oval office scot-free to continue his campaign of wreaking havoc and chaos on the nation.
5
The Congress needs to cancel vacation and return to pass
a ban on the sale of military assault weapons; as well as
a ban on the use of military assault weapons; and
then a recall of all assault weapons by every single US
citizen and pay these assault weapons owners for their
return of their assault weapons..
Right now; I believe our nation is being assailed by the
NRA and gun manufacturers...we are being "held up" by
those who receive their campaign funding from the NRA
and the weapons lobbyists....they are the real killers of our
countrymen....Congress needs to re convene NOW ….
11
A lot would get done quickly if in order to address climate change, they turned off the air conditioning in the House and Senate and forced every politician and lobbyist to remain until the issues were finally resolved.
2
Please! STOP looking for Trump to show moral leadership. It will never happen, even if mass shootings of hundreds happened every day. Trump has No Morals, has not and will not ever.
8
Anyone who thinks Trump's call for stronger background checks is a legitimate attempt to end gun violence is sadly gullible. Trump and all his Republican sycophants are and will always be in the back pocket of the gun lobby. The only way to end the gun horror is to sweep Republicans out of office. This is not to say that all Democrats have clean hands regarding the gun lobby, but the overwhelming majority of Democratic legislators will move to achieve legislation that not only requires stringent background checks but eliminates the possibility that any private citizen can own an assault weapon. Owning a hand gun for home protection and a rifle for hunting/target shooting is one thing. Owning an assault weapon must end.
188
@nzierler. There are apparently already two bills from the House sitting in the Senate and waiting for McConnell’s imprimatur to get to the floor of the Senate. But remember, Congress is out of session for the month of August. These bills will never see the light of day under McConnell.
13
@nzierler. ASSAULT WEAPONS + HIGH CAPACITY MAGAZINES = WEAPONS OF WAR. They are NOT for hunting (seriously?), home defense (hint.. shotgun). If you are a gun collector, fine. But I think it is fair to ask that you be licensed and your assault weapon be registered after a background check.
2
@nzierler
The one study the CDC was able to complete before their funding was stripped by Republicans on guns and health showed that having a gun in the house increases the risk of gun related death by in the home by 200%. It also increases the risk of death by suicide in that house by 400%. NRA didn't like that - because they have been saying for years the only way to keep your family safe was by having a gun in the house, and pressured congress to end funding for studying gun deaths as a public health issue.
Does banning assault weapons really prevent mass shootings? We actually don't know, because we don't have data to back it up because we don't study gun deaths as a public heath issue. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was created in the 1960's because thousands of people were dying on American roads every year. They were given millions of dollars a year to study traffic accidents, why they were caused, and how to prevent them. Now we have seat belts, crumple zones, air bags everywhere, and hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved.
We need to study guns before we can control them effectively. Even if we can't pass gun control laws, we should at least fund studying the effects of guns as a public health issue. If a disease was killing 40,000 Americans a year, you'd bet there would be a government funded commission on it. Why not guns?
2
What a thoughtful President we have in office! Today, he recognizes that there’s a gun problem that’s causing mass killings in America, but he of course won’t do anything until Congress “marries” gun control with immigration reform. In other words, if Congress doesn’t fix the border issue, let these mass shootings continue.
8
The fact that Trump didn’t even invoke or condemn the very obvious motive of the El Paso shooter says it all. He cannot because it would be incriminating himself. He may not have pulled the trigger but his vile and hate-filled anti-immigrant rhetoric did. While the shooter says his thinking predated Trump and his campaign, it’s very apparent Trump’s incessant rants reinforced and validated his ideology, and therefore emboldened him to commit this hideous crime.
7
"didn’t even invoke or condemn the very obvious motive of the El Paso shooter"
But he DID...in an invocation only a white supremacist could love, by twitting that Congress must attack that very same bogeyman of immigration before Sane gun law can pass!
(It's the exact opposite of how a good leader would invoke it...but he's neither good nor a leader so duh.)
The current immigration process already has background checks for new immigrants going through the process. If you are a new immigrant looking to migrate, you need to provide certified criminal background checks from your country of origin in addition to checks done in the USA if there is any history on the immigrant. All applicants must provide bio-metrics in addition to medical exams and financial sufficiency checks.
I know. I recently brought my parents to the USA about two years ago.
Trump is simply trying to make the recent shootings an immigration issue when it is really about white nationalist and domestic terrorism.
8
First of all, what does immigration have to do with gun laws?
Secondly, you know that the Democrats will never be able to please him with immigration because he wants to change the Constitution, and finally when it doesn’t work, he will blame the Democrats and then no gun laws will be passed. He already knows the outcome. His placing these together indicates he has no intention of passing any gun law. Oh, and this will be the one bill that McConnell will take to the Senate floor.
162
@Bob
What does immigration have to do with gun laws? Simple. One of the main things the white nationalist terrorists want is an end to letting non-whites into this country, something our current president also desires. Maybe he figures their support of him will increase and mass killings will end if he gives them this.
@Bob Exactly. It is an easy way to say, hey the democrats won't compromise, I wanted to pass gun legislation, but they wouldn't negotiate. Then he can absolve himself of any responsibility. Disgusting.
5
@Bob did you read this article? a white nationalist in El Paso was angry about immigration and used a gun to further his agenda.
if street gangs shoot each other over drug dealing territory, are drugs and guns not linked?
Our country has become an international disgrace. But I'm not leaving to go back to where I came from (CT). Let's vote out Trump and the Republican senate and make it better.
9
It’s deliberate. Stoking anger and giving the silent nod to violence is deliberate. Trump knows exactly what he is doing.
11
We cannot let Trump hold us hostage. Tying immigration to paltry gun control measures is cynical, especially considering the motive of the El Paso shooter.
5
Beto. Not only is El Paso calling for you, so is our nation! But not as a presidential candidate.
We need you to go back home, help heal your community, and by making a strong statement that running for the Senate is more important that placing low in a run for the Democratic Presidential primary.
This is your time and your moment. A moment in which you can elevate yourself and your career while at the same time perhaps helping Democrats lead a 2020 Senate revolution.
If you chose to withdraw from the race for the Oval Office to instead take on McConnell's GOP wing-man, John Cornyn, you might in fact be the spark of the revolution that is actually more important than just defeating Trump.
This statement might not only make a Democratic Senate seat in Texas a reality, it might also spur other high-profile Democrats to chase after their own state's contestable Senate seats. It might convert some of your fellow presidential hopefuls that are polling poorly, reconsider their future and instead join the "Beto Senate" revolution.
All I am saying is that history rarely throws in the path of possible greatness. Take this moment and own it.
10
@It Is Time! Agreed.
A positive step in doing something substantial about both issues is to get rid of the republican party, all of them, no exceptions. Vote them out, out, out.
10
My granddaughter is in Spain visiting her other grandparents, who are afraid to send her home to the USA. She starts first grade in September. We all know first graders aren’t safe in their classrooms in the USA.
8
In the this political climate, gun control and immigration restrictions are diametrically opposed. This assures the President of his preferred out outcome. Nothing.
4
Trump will say anything to win 2020, although this stronger background checks certainly isn't going to win over any of his base.
2
His base will avoid background checks. Trump has already warned us what his base may do if he is not elected. These massacres are a warning.
The background checks should not be combined with immigration reform, except as a cynical effort to see neither measure passed.
6
So if Democrats do not agree to draconian immigration “reform” including of course, Trump’s Wall (because Trump won’t sign anything less than that), Trump basically says: “Keep shooting’m up with assault rifles in schools, churches, shopping centers, theaters, music festivals, synagogues, and whatever”.
38
Who is he fooling? Conflating background checks with immigration reforms? Ah, I get it. It's the immigrants who are causing all the gun violence. Mr. Trump, you cannot use background checks as a bargaining chip on immigration reform legislation, funding for the "wall," or other issues. This is not political horse-trading.
37
The other Trump tweet blamed the "Fake News" for the problem of gun violence. That should be the headline of this article. He says that the media has a responsibility "to life and safety in this country." He goes on to say that if the media does not act more fairly, things will get worse. He is threatening all of us. We should all be outraged and cooncerned for our safety because of threats from the "President" And that should be the headline of this piece.
31
There are millions and millions of guns laying around in the U.S., many with the ability to fire many rounds from high-capacity magazines. That being said, the most dangerous weapon in the United States at this moment is the ongoing effort by our current president to stoke fear, hate, and division for personal gain.
Throwing ongoing and incendiary rhetoric on top of such a crazy pile of guns is the match meeting the powder keg.
35
As long as the Supreme Court of United States stands by the legal opinion that there is an individual right to keep and bear arms outside of a well-regulated militia any appeals to local, state and federal legislators and executives are all in vain.
As long as Americans have more guns per capita and in absolute numbers than any other nationality on Earth resistance is futile.
As long as the memory of Sandy Hook in Newtown lives and lingers there is no hope for any effective meaningful gun control change.
Guns don't kill. People kill.
8
@Blackmamba
People kill with guns. If those people had no guns they would not be able to kill with guns.
There, fixed it for you.
1
@Blackmamba
The day that congress did nothing about gun control after Newtown the only thing one can assume is that America feels the freedom to have all the guns and bullets one wants is worth a child's life.
2
Actually, the guns do make it easier for those people to kill. They couldn’t do this with their hands and couldn’t kill masses with a knife. Guns don’t kill by themselves . . . but they do kill in someone's hands.
If DJT wants to talk to all of us, then let him use the airwaves. Until then, stop publishing his Tweets. One cannot "president" via Twitter. Let's see his face, let's hear his voice, make him show up for the job.
27
It must be opined that inert hardware, such as a gun, does not kill people, but the callous and cynical rhetoric of politicians, exemplified by President Trump's verbiage, almost certainly does.
10
When are we going to get real in this country. Our government officials may have college degrees, but they sure lack common sense.
It's way past time to require a license to purchase a gun. A license that requires passing a psychological test. It should be illegal to sell or purchase a gun anywhere but at a registered gun shop. In addition to a background check there should be a 30 day waiting period when purchasing a gun.
All of these military type weapons that have been used in these mass shootings should be completely banned.
There are angry people in this world. There always have been, and there always will be for what ever reason - never having felt loved, subjected to emotional or physical abuse as a child, bullied at school, exposure to racist and hate filled talk & ideas, etc. etc.
Naive talk about changing our culture makes as much sense as emptying a lake with a tablespoon.
How many more people will have to die before the safety of our people in this country is a top priority and do what is absolutely necessary?
15
@uras
You need a drivers license to drive a car. Why don’t we need a license to use a gun?
1
We have gun control; what we need is more effective gun control. Politics is about compromise, tit for tat. I get a little something, you get a little something.
To reject Trump’s offer of new gun control measures because of his realpolitik strategy of pairing it with immigration reform is to embrace the scorched earth policies of the Republican Party since Newt Gingrich. It’s absolutism, which has no place in a liberal democratic framework. You can’t get everything you want just the way you want it. Only dictators get that.
Let’s work with him on this. Let’s try to get something done. We are going to have to give something to get something, and this is doubly true about guns. It’s time. Let’s not reject his idea as worthless and cynical. The lives of children, women and men are at stake. Let’s roll up our sleeves, put aside Trump hatred and get a deal. It won’t be perfect, but it will be a start. And it might just start to heal the bitter enmities that are dividing our country.
1
@Mr. Little
Remember what he did after Parkland? He pretended to care and then did nothing. You think he's serious this time? He just says stuff and then takes it back when people think they have a deal with him. Look at the other comments he has made in the last 24 hours. He's just throwing stuff at the wall to get through the news cycle.
@Mr. Little
Negotiating with a gun to your head is not a negotiation.
The compromise comes through the actual merits of each issue individually. Linking them is not just cynical, but corrosive to actually solving the two highly charged problems. This is tying a hand grenade to a bundle of dynamite, effectively hoping it blows up for nothing more than a campaign taking point: I tried, they wouldn’t work with me, vote in people who will.
The optics here are a false choice. First, background checks aren’t enough to stem the violence. Second, he will always claim victory because he won’t support anything of substance, yet will blame the Dems for his own failure to propose meaningful gun control reforms.
@Mr. Little: We have no idea what his “immigration reform” proposals are. We can guess, however, that they will be drafted by Stephen Miller, whose overtly racist views have driven policies have been struck down as unconstitutional by court after court. Trump doesn’t care about what is right or just; he only cares about his “base.” Look at what he espouses at his rallies - he joked about shooting immigrants in Florida. That’s not “realpolitik” - that’s what gives people like the El Paso shooter permission to act.
Removing assault weapons is essential to minimizing the carnage. Recognizing and specifically addressing inflammatory racist and ethnic negative language and policies by political and other leaders is long-overdue. Sadly, both of these happen forcefully, we will continue along the same path.
5
So, in summary, Trump is saying, that he’ll take minimal action to prevent people being slaughtered if and only if he’s given what he (and, incidentally, the El Pao shooter) wants.
And he’s not being impeached because?
55
"President Trump on Monday called for Republicans and Democrats to work together to strengthen background checks for prospective gun buyers and proposed “marrying” new measures with new immigration laws — two of the most politically divisive issues facing lawmakers."
"Marrying new measures"?
I want a divorce from this president - immediately.
Reason? Irreconcilable differences.
71
@Marge Keller, he actually said “perhaps” wedding more vigorous gun limitations with badly needed comprehensive and specific immigration procedures, because each while both important have gone nowhere by themselves so maybe a wedding might be the only way to get them out of the house and living on their own for the added incentive that comes with it. He seems to be implying that he’d like to see both working and happy if only those whose job it is to do would do it.
1
@John Doe
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I don't necessarily agree completely with your assessment but I appreciate your perspective.
2
The root cause of the gun violence is simply that there are too many guns in public hands. Even a sane person can get agitated sometimes and if a gun is within reach, he can put others in danger. There are 400+ millions of guns in the hands of 300+ millions of adult civilian Americans. Some violence is bound to happen.
16
Make no mistake. If Donald truly cared about victims of gun violence, he'd propose and promote strong gun regulation that stands on its own. No need to "marry" it with so-called "immigration reform." He knows full well that passing meaningful legislation to address gun violence will be exponentially more difficult (practically guaranteed to fail) if it is strapped to the back of his xenophobic agenda. And you can be sure any GOP-backed gun control measure will be crafted to sound like progress but will in fact be carefully worded to actually make no difference.
18
And afterward write a letter to the Dem who takes office because the 2nd Amenment is sacrosanct for many conservatives. Trump received *a lot* of flack from conservative commentators including Ann Coulter for the initial position after Parkland saying the NRA would have to accept less. Bush accepting tax hikes would be nothing compared to Trump calling for gun control/restrictions.
We may have reached a point where half the population is one or two degrees of separation from a mass shooting. My niece planned to go to the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California the day of the shooting there. As a child I attended summer camp at the Jewish Community Center in the San Fernando Valley that was shot up a few years ago by a domestic terrorist. I live about 15 miles from Isla Vista near UC Santa Barbara where a young man killed more than a dozen people a couple of years ago.
13
This president is definitely not leading the United States of America, however, clearly, he s leading some kind of a movement that seeks in changing the very concept of what America is.
Congress, my beautiful wall or more of this.
11
The Times has continued to normalize Trump in its reporting - avoiding calling him a racist, giving him a pass on his political tactics of exploiting division, among other things - and this is what we get: A country where extremists are emboldened to write and publish manifestos and then act on those ideas to the harm of the entire country. To my mind, the Times has a lot to answer for. For one, please start publishing accounts of the lunches and phone calls between the publisher and the president. We always hear about these after the fact, but it's clear that this is an important means by which the president is influencing coverage to his clear benefit.
14
You know why he did not address the gunmens manifesto is because he and his supporters are to blame for the massacres with their horrible send her back chants at their rallies. Trump knows he is the cause this time. Very sad. He needs to be fired or impeached now. We the Dems will come up with a strict gun bill but the GOP politicians will get money from the NRA to block any reform. We need to stop the sale of bullets to the public at once. That’s what is needed.
83
I agree. A nationwide freeze in gun and ammo sales until we find a solution. Like quarantine in an epidemic.
4
@Bohemian Sarah Yes, basically a moratorium until we figure out "what's going on". Like Trump claimed to want re immigration of Muslims (with no evidence of an actual problem in his case).
Meanwhile treat gun violence as a public health problem as it should have always been treated, with appropriate funding and research.
1
@D.j.j.k. Mass killing machines are horrific. Listen to the tape released by Dayton Cheif of Pol. you can hear how fast those "tumbling" "ripping" bullets come out of that machine. You don't stand a chance! God help us because we cannot help ourselves.
1
Perhaps the government can’t block 8chan for first amendment reasons, but if there’s a place for hackers to do some good, this is it. Disrupt the site. Do your thing.
39
@Paco Are you publicly saying that a group should do something illegal? I guess our president does it all the time, calling for violence or getting Hillary's emails, and more.
The president of the United States is in part to blame for the increased boldness of those who would murder minorities.
He sleeps OK at night. Whatever passed for a conscience for Donald Trump has long ago gone dormant.
What's weirder to me is all the people who support him who think that gives them a pass on all this.
No pass for you. This is the cost of whatever ethical bargain you made, and it's not over yet.
98
@James Gyre
Two major tragedies and he couldn't even get off of the golf course!
1
The House passed HB 8. It is ready to go. The Senate could meet and vote it through now.
56
It's lip service, just like after Parkland, or was it the synagogue, or the summer fair. So many shootings, I've lost track.
Trump is merely generating a video clip of bold-faced lies to be played to his supporters as part of an overarching propaganda campaign.
Neither Trump nor Graham nor Moscow Mitch has the slightest intention of bucking the NRA, which is acting as a conduit for millions in Russian money.
Welcome to the doublespeak of oligarchy.
88
From what I've read thus far, both murderers legally bought their weapons.
If this man believes "stronger background checks and immigration reform" will do anything to lessen or prevent future mass shootings, then he continues to reside on Fantasy Island.
Apparently he will use any tragedy to justify his immigration reform policies.
I am shaking with such anger at this very moment.
41
If Trump is being completely honest in his observation that "There is no place for hate in America," then he needs to leave this country immediately and never return.
328
Best comment yet
3
@H. Clark
Well so do a lot of people then.
Mostly men.
I see so much hatred every time I drive my very used Honda and a pick up truck is nearby.
The new American male dream;
A new pick up truck and a gun collection.
The new American female dream;
A guy Who can afford them.
I hear you, but no sane country would let him in.
Gun control has no relation to immigration laws. This is just a phony front by Trump to try to appear to show some sympathy for the victims, yet he feels nothing and will accomplish less.
60
Could this be like the last time Trump expressed support for some kid of gun control after Parkland, and then he didn't?
16
Mitch McConnell's job, as he defines it, is to not protect America against foreign election interference and not protect Americans from being shot since he believes doing so would hurt his political agenda. Expect nothing to happen.
24
Trump’s plan to combine gun safety with immigration reform is just another way for him to claim he is doing something, while achieving nothing. Both these issues need to be addressed in stand alone bills. The House has already passed common sense gun safety legislation that is gathering dust on Mitch McConnell’s desk. Do something Mitch!
23
Support Democrats in Kentucky. Next year Mitch is up for re-election.
2
It is quite clear that Donald Trump will do anything and say anything that he perceives is necessary to remain President. He has changed his position on gun control, abortion, and numerous other topics for that purpose.
It is thus absolutely clear what must be done: an effort must be mounted to convince him through effective mass organization to convince him that he cannot be re-elected without robust effective gun control.
97
@Jerry Von Korff he can't be re-elected, period, if we want to salvage what is left of our democracy.
6
@Jerry Von Korff
Once he's out of office, he's heading for prison... Probably on New York State charges where he can't pardon himself.
@Jerry Von Korff, He knows that his choices are either reelection or, very likely, being tried for multiple crimes. There has rarely been someone so desperate.
We're way past background checks as an effective means of stemming gun violence. Both the El Paso and Dayton shooters would have passed one.
There are an estimated 12,000,000 "assault rifles" among the more than 300,000,000 guns in the U.S. You can't put this genie back in the bottle.
As is always the case after mass shootings when there's talk of gun control, sales of guns and ammo will be brisk in the coming weeks.
13
@Randy, unfortunately this seems to be the new reality. I remember when the NRA actually emphasized gun training and responsible gun ownership. Now they seem to only care about arms sales. Im wondering how many of the walmart patrons were armed? The old argument that good guys with guns will be able to counter these types of shootings has proven woefully untrue in most cases. Im wondering what type of event or mass shooting could even influence political action these days.
While anything that chips away at our national disgrace of a gun culture is welcome, nothing short of reducing the supply and availability of firearms, especially the semi-automatic variety, will substantially curtail gun violence. After all, many, if not most, of the perpetrators of these horrific events obtained their weaponry legally. In other words, they were “good guys.” If they had mental health problems they were usually not identified as such so attempts to pair gun violence with the lack of mental health care is also futile.
8
Anyone about to be burned at the stake is going to start calling for the mass production of fire extinguishers. Too little too late and highly dubious since a good round of golf was more interesting than either speaking to the nation or visiting the scene, both of which fall pretty close to a job requirement for the POTUS. The very first thing on the ethics checklist would be to denounce the hate, but that doesn't seem to fall in line with what his base wants. Hey, GOP, is this really what you think is necessary? To burn down the ethics and values of our nation so you can ram some deregulation and a few tax cuts down the pipe? Time to spine up and protect what really made the country great. Hint: not this POTUS.
24
It's hard to understand why these two issues would be paired together now, of all times. Is Trump suggesting that somehow the gunman in Texas was justified, because there wasn't immigration reform--and that somehow, even if there WAS empirical evidence that his fears were unfounded, he would have then acted rationally? Or is he suggesting that somehow shootings like the one in Dayton or California have something to do with immigration? Or did he just get up this morning, and it occurred to him that he's such a great dealmaker, he'll use this as an opportunity to get what he wants, and label it reform (a wall is not typically included in immigration reform)? Or did he figure that by putting the two together, he could avoid addressing the demands for gun control? No matter what the reasoning, it seems absurd to link the two together--even offensive.
356
@KB I think that putting these two issues at the same time has sense. Both of them, a comprehensive immigration reform and stricter laws for guns (or abolishing them) will make our society more inclusive and less dangerous. Right now Trump criminalizes emigrants. In doing this he makes them an easy target among some people who owns weapons and follow the hate of the leader.
4
My take is he’s setting up the dems for gun control legislation to fail. They attach wall funding and the dems will not vote for it. Then blame the dems for failing. It’s all about demonizing and damaging the Democratic Party
39
@KB Look to his advisors on this strategy. This has Stephen Miller written all over it.
42
Classic trap for the "deeply divided Dems". They want gun control, but wish an immigration reform that will not pass the GOP senate with an election pending in 2020.
If Dems reject this, they will be ostracized for rejecting the Trump offer of "background checks" when future tragedies happen.
This is further exacerbated by the fact, that 20 individuals with their own vision for the country are competing for the nomination.
2
Or, consider this, that 20 individuals died in El Paso.
I remember when Trump last called for bipartisan action on background checks. It was immediately following the Las Vegas shootings wasn’t it? It took about three days for the NRA to yank his leash and bring him in line.
I remember when there was bipartisan action on immigration that included trump getting full wall funding and Dreamers a path to citizenship. It took about three days for Ann Coulter and Rush Limbauagh to yank his leash and bring that to a screeching halt.
I remember when, in response to Trump’s question about what to do with the wave of migrants at the southern border an audience member in Texas shouted out, “shoot them”. Trump laughed, and said, “only in the panhandle”. He said it three times. He now blames the media for the hatred and anger consuming America.
Will there ever come a time in America when the individual memories of decent Americans will become a sufficient collective that this absolute stain on your country will be driven from office and his boot licking enablers with him?
73
@John David James. The 30 to 40 percent of Trump supporters in the general public will not change their minds because it isn’t their minds that are engaged — it is their emotions. They identify with Trump’s making everyone and everything outside of themselves responsible for the disappointments and losses they’ve had in life.
They may feel sorry that 29 people have been killed but they actually feel no connection to them at all. They have been defined for 2 and 1/2 years as the “others,” the outsiders — even though most of the dead are no doubt American citizens. The divisions created by Trump, fostered by a Congress that clearly owes its soul to corporate money, cannot be healed by simply retracting words of hate. Trump has poisoned the soul well of each and every supporter who agrees in their heart with the chants of “send them back” and “rat-infested city.”
There is no way to support the “Republican agenda” so long as Trump is its embodiment and he calls Putin for “advice.” We need a new bumper sticker that says: Vote them all out.
'But as mourning flirted with anger...'
My Mourning IS anger. How about our inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? How does your right to own deadly weapons, in a distortion of the original intent of the poorly phrased second amendment (IMHO), trump our lives?
There are simple things like background checks and waiting periods that a huge majority of our populace favors. They can't become law because of gun manufacturers' money and NRA ownership of far too many in Congress. This is not to mention over-compensating predominately white males who need guns (many guns!) as a crutch for their self-doubted masculinity.
I did a calculation last year based on statistics of gun ownership, what fraction of adults here owned one gun, and 2-5 guns. Crunching these numbers with demographic stats and making few approximations, I found, to the best of my recollection, that about 6-7 percent of American adults owned over 60 per cent of all firearms in private hands, with an average of 13 apiece. This, I believe, is what is politely known as overkill.
These folks with exceptional perceived need for deadly weapons are loudest with their objections to the least efforts to keep guns out of the hands of unstable or downright evil people. We hear specious arguments, one upon another, without cease, that simply are delusional. I ask, why are these self-styled macho-types so overly entitled? Why is our right to life so discounted?
19
Trump won’t get background checks passed. We’ve seen this before. A week after the Parkland shooting, Trump tweeted he was pushing for comprehensive background checks, raising the age limit to purchase a gun, and banning bump stocks.
Nothing happened then. Nothing will happen now. The sad truth is this tragedy is going to happen again and again and again until we the people finally have the opportunity to say enough is enough and vote this man and his Republican cohort out of office.
15
Immigration has nothing to do with the gun problems we're facing. To suggest that is cynicism of the worst kind. Trump has blood on his hands.
51
He'll reverse this statement as soon as the NRA calls and reminds him who he really works for just like he did last time he promised something would be done.
17
@Andrew McDonald He is counting on the public mourning for a few days then moving on without his being forced to act. Massive demonstrations are needed!
2
@JB We don't need massive demonstrations. What we need is massive voter turnout!!!
I still don’t understand why there is no law limiting magazine capacity. Any gun with more than 10 rounds is either just a needless toy to fulfill someone’s ego or something meant to kill lots of people.
17
If an illegal immigrant or a person of color were the shooters it would be the end of the world as we know it; but since it’s domestic terrorism nothing will change.
25
Another publicity stunt and distraction from Criminal Trump. Moscow Mitch will never let any kind of gun control bill see the light of day.
20
More twits in code from our opportunistic, cynical "president". Marrying together immigration reform and background checks, will turn the tragedies that occurred so near in time to each other into something "GREAT". That's twisted, and once again narcissistic and self absorbed reflection, wanting to get his agenda through even in the wake of disturbing violence. The only thing "great" that may eventually occur from these events, is if he and his fraction in the Senate are gone in 2 years, and serious gun reforms are advanced in this nation. And that we take the nativism being stoked by him and his ilk down to chill.
13
Good on the president for a call to action. Hopefully something actually comes of it.
1
@Brad can you explain why linking immigration and gun control is a good idea? They are two separate issues and should be addressed separately.
4
@Brad Don't hold your breath. The last time the President called for action on gun safety legislation, the NRA had a little talk with him, and he reversed himself in a matter of days. The last time the President worked out a deal on immigration reform with the Democratic leaders in Congress he completely reversed himself in a matter of days. This guy is the very definition of all hat no cattle. And yet time after time the rubes fall for it.
3
@Brad That wasn't a call to action. That was an insult to the victims and to the American people in general. The very day after a white supremacist murders immigrants, instead of confronting the bigotry and radicalism he helped enable, he instead demands more punitive laws against immigrants in exchange for the gun control legislation they should have been passing decades ago to protect average citizens against gun violence.
My only answer to him is: What if we don't pass any new immigration laws? Are you saying you're going to allow more innocent people to be killed by your rightwing followers?
2
Here we go. Two tragedies born out of the racist language of this president will now be leveraged to create racist immigration policy. This administration has no shame. Trump is not sympathetic and does not care about this loss of life in the least, he and Miller see it merely as a bargaining chip to spread additional hate and discrimination.
19
Trump saying that Congress needs to link gun control and immigration reform shows his complete and total ignorance. They are two separate issues. I can just imagine the thoughts swirling in his brain right now. Oh yes, and per usual, it’s the news media’s fault because he feels they don’t report the facts as he believes them. His blathering means nothing will get done.
10
As expected, a pointless response from Trump. “Marrying” background checks to undefined (but, no doubt draconian) proposals for immigration reform guarantees that such legislation will go nowhere, and there is no mention of banning the weapons of war that terrorist mass murderers use, time and again, to slaughter people who, under the delusion that we can do so safely, leave our homes to shop, worship, party, go to the movies, work, or go to school. Nothing but a typically phony, cynical, pandering and manipulative statement from this fraudulent excuse for a president whose rhetoric, day after day, spurs on and enables the racists, xenophobes, and garden-variety haters who live among us.
17
Unbelievable. That he would imply by linking these together that immigration justifies these murders is unconscionable. Revolting.
27
Perhaps Mr. Trump is proposing to deport white nationalists who wreak so much havoc, although I can't imagine any country in the world would take them.
5
The linking of meaningful gun control (and rigorous background checks would be only part of that) to the draconian immigration measures Trump favors expresses precisely the moral fakery of this charlatan. That one would make not murdering people conditional on mistreating others is disgusting.
6
What is wrong with this guy? Is the logic that if we didn’t have “Mexicans” then his racist fans would have no targets?
11
Perhaps the NYT's and other major news outlets could publish every day the amount of money politicians receive from the NRA. (oh, add in big oil, pharma and those that pollute the air and water). Make them explain why they're more beholden to them over the people that they're supposed to represent.
7
So Trump dehumanized immigrants, then someone posts a manifesto using a number of phrases the president himself has used, and massacres twenty people because they look like Latinos,
Now Trump wants to tie gun reform to changes in immigration laws? This is unbelievable. He wants to make this tragedy a campaign issue!
I can hear him now shouting at a rally, "I would do something about guns, but Democrats want to allow these people into our country and change who we are far more than they want to reduce gun violence!"
What a selfish, cynical man. I am sick to my stomach.
22
To include the implementation of “new immigration laws” in his (Mr. Trump) tweet regarding a murderer who posted anti-Mexican rhetoric online before his massacre is a thinly veiled validation of the killers heinous crime. Abhorrent.
4
40,000 Americans a year are killed by guns.
Are you safer now than you were three years ago?
If not, it's time for a new president.
6
Trump puts a lot of the blame on the media. What a surprise! Of course he takes no responsibility for all the hate and insults he has directed toward immigrants and minorities at his rallies for the past three years.
Trump's incompetence can't be addressed soon enough. We are better than this pathetic display of "leadership" and American values.
9
Make certain that all your affairs are in order. You can be murdered anywhere in the United States, the most dangerous civilized country on earth. A warped interpretation of our Constitution has enriched the gun purveyors, politicians and hate mongers. The rest of us have no right to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness.
14
Trump’s apology is too little too late. He has capitalized on the hated of brown and black skinned people for his own gain. Now he has to try to “look good” in the fact of these horrendous tragedies. Pure fakery, perhaps mixed in with a little guilt, although I question that too. Will he ch age his rants at his rally’s? We will see. He should be ashamed of himself.
4
The president calls for republicans and democrats to work together.
That’s like mixing oil and water.
The country needs leadership from its president right now - not a president who delegates responsibility to others in the midst of a crisis. Not a president who foments racist violence with his smirks, winks, and nods.
At least it was good weather for golf over the weekend. He’s a modern day Nero. Swinging his 5 iron while the nation burns.
13
Will these proposed background checks please investigate associations with sites such as 8chan and other hate-spewing ideological membership, subscriptions, etc?
1
Shameful and cynical to be airing gun control with immigration. This man has no depths of depravity to which he won’t sink to appease his racist base and advance his political fortunes.
10
Trump got up this morning and tweeted something, and the nation is content with such a response to these endless tragedies?
Tweetie pie-in-chief.
3
@WDP not to mention he did not interrupt his golf game and other recreational events as the tragedies unfolded.
What does immigration have to do with the El Paso and Dayton shootings?
6
I am going to state the obvious here but what does immigration have to do with the recent shootings? Fewer non-whites so angry white males are somewhat less angry?
8
Trump’s linking of background checks and immigration reform—a total non sequitor—quietly legitimizes the radical anti-immigration views shared by many of the white males who perpetrate these mass shoot. Despicable.
9
The GOP need to come up with this SOLUTION. They have had years to come up with a immigration reforms which as ended with orphan children in cages, and as for gun legislation well you can que the crickets...
1
Gun control is needed for all Americans to keep us all safe. To do it on the back of immigration reform is an unnecessary crossing of purposes designed to make the idea fail. There have been no legislative accomplishments for exactly this reason.
206
Unfortunately, more and more this great nation is being defined by acts of hate. Smalls acts that happen every day between neighbors, on the roads to work, and the sort of stuff one sees on TV or reads on Twitter, and the large ones that move a nation to tears, such as those that took place this weekend. The problem is that the small everyday acts and frequency of the large ones appear to have created a sense of “normal” - we are shocked and saddened but nothing changes and we go on as if nothing has really happened, like zombies walking through life.
Give prayer but do not call for change, we are told by many in power. I used to ask when will enough be enough, but I’m afraid that day may have occurred a long time ago and most have just given up on the idea of change, but this cannot continue. If you are saddened or sickened or believe that tragedies like those that took place this weekend need to stop, then I urge everyone to take action - big or small, because if we want change to occur we need to make change occur.
11
Yes, and part of taking action includes lots and lots of sincere kindness. Even when that guy in the supermarket snarls at you. it gets easier with practice.
That, and making contributions, and calling Congress daily, and marching, and never giving up. We can change this. We have to.
1
There is bipartisan support in Congress for common sense immigration reform.
There is bipartisan support in Congress for common sense laws respecting guns.
If Trump and McConnell marry those commonsensical approaches, then great.
But that’s not going to happen. Both Trump and McConnell make a point of preventing votes on progress on either front.
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@Yeah - It looks like Trump is using this tragedy as part of his re-election strategy. He will tie the two issues together, then will push for super-strict laws on the immigration side, then will blame the Democrats if they do not pass the combined gun/immigration laws. Plus if he has his way there will be no added gun control measures passed, since they would be tied to the immigration "reforms". Trump can then say the Democrats want open borders and don't care much about gun controls. A win-win for him. Trump is using this tragedy to push tighter immigration and satisfy his base. Let's hope cooler heads prevail and maybe some Republicans push back on this idea. Immigration and gun reform are two different issues - they should not be tied together. Maybe even Trump's base will realize after these two tragedies, that "thoughts and prayers" are not enough.
8
Limit gun capacity to six rounds. Ban assault guns (we mostly banned machine guns already). Eventually repeal the 2nd amendment ( we repealed the prohibition of alcohol amendment before - and we could grandfather in limited rights to current gun owners.)
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@Henry Limit guns to two bullets, not six; two is protection, six is a gunfight. Tax ammunition companies out of business, if they don't cooperate with transparent safety regulations. Remove legal protections for gun manufacturers. Require radioactive tracers on bullets. Require GPS locators in the body of every handgun or long gun. Require manufacturers to acknowledge body counts when their weapons are involved. Fire judges all over the place. Make administrative level positions in police departments dependent on lowering body counts. Force all equipment manufacturers to become publicly-traded companies, so the public can participate in decisions which endanger them. Make "self defense" an inadequate protection, when there was no attempt to defuse the situation. Make threats of assault equal to assault, when guns are involved. There are a lot more ways than that. Yes, I know there will be constitutional arguments, so most of you will say it can't be done, which makes it easy to give up, which is why nothing gets done, but any of the above would force a series of high-level court cases which would in turn force transparency and honesty on the liars who own your system. Stop smashing your faces against the 18th Century lawbooks, and start solving the problem. Be smart instead of "fighting for democracy"; you don't seem to be particularly democratic down there anyway. Work the system until you can change it from a position of power, not weakness, from the inside.
2
Limit gun capacity to one round. Why do you need 6 rounds?
Register every firearm and track every sale.
2
Immigration reform?
I'm screaming in frustration and fear and sadness.
What will happen to our great nation? I am losing faith that our country will ever survive.
62
More like “what HAS happened to our country?”.
We got too content. We got lazy. We became a consumer state. We became a monarchy of money.
We became a place where our important founding principles were put aside in favor of the right of “men”, and some women, could coddle themselves with the comfort of a gun. Be macho. Be strong. Kill the deer, the bear, and now the “invading” others.
We became a place where education is just the way to a job, not the path to being a better citizen or person.
We became the apprentices to the very oligarchs we resent.
We hear comparisons to Germany under Hitler. Italy under Mussolini or Berlusconi. The difference is great - our nation was founded on principles of fairness. It has often been challenged, but nowhere near like it is now.
E Pluribus Unum.
E pluribus Trump.
Republicans are constrained from sensible gun policies by the unreasonable Far Right
Democrats are constrained from sensible illegal immigration policies by the unreasonable Far Left
Trade one for the other and make a deal.
4
@John name some instances where the "Far Left" stopped a reasonable immigration bill from passing. You will not be able to. There have been attempts to submit immigration reform bills but they have been blocked by the Republicans. The far left is an extremely small percentage of the overall left. They do not have the power to stop a reasonable immigration bill from being passed. But the Republican Senate can still block at will. Tying the issues of gun control and immigration together is a sure-fire way for nothing to get done.
2
It looks like Trump is trying to cut some kind of a "deal" in that he gets stricter immigration laws and enforcement in return for stricter gun law enforcement. And he's using these recent tragedies to launch the deal. It is craven and not what I want or expect in a president, but if the deal actually saves lives and limitsguns, I support it.
17
@Tom J what he said will lead to more mass shootings! By tying the two unrelated topics together, he’s saying that white supremacy, hate speech, and xenophobia are OK. Simply put, the gunman in El Paso was justified, according to Trump, because of immigration. Charles Manson was convicted of the same thing as what Trump is saying right now, and spent the rest of his life in prison.
While strong background checks are important, it wouldn't have stopped the recent spate of domestic terrorism, because, as far as I know, the guns were purchased legally.
We need to figure out how to reduce the number of guns available to the public, making it much more difficult to purchase. Or do a buyback and outlaw guns as Australia has done, successfully lowering their murder rate.
23
Trump can’t help himself. Our national gun violence tragedy replays itself over and over, and he sees this as an opportunity to extract the restrictive immigration laws he needs to show his base that he delivered on his xenophobic campaign promises from 2016. Again, he resorts to hostage holding...effective gun regulation, including extensive background checks and assault weapon restrictions, must accompany banning “chain migration” and capping immigration.
Will he liberate the Dreamers and give status to he millions of law abiding, long term residents who contributed to our economic successes? The Dreamers were previously his favorite hostages.
Let’s say in plain language what Trump’s artless deal means: let’s contain Hispanic influence by legal means instead of lethal means.
16
Trump's call for more stringent background checks should not have been in the same breath as his call for immigration reform. Gun control and immigration are two different issues, and by tying them together, Trump is basically implying that immigrants caused this violence by being here. They did not. This is on US, Trump, not on them.
146
@Citizen-of-the-World Many posters even on this site said the same thing, that the El Paso tragedy was the Dems fault for allowing illegal immigrants in. It is convoluted, sick logic that we should fear the immigrants and not the gunmen. My best guess is that Fox news is peddling this spin.
1
By President Trump suggesting (so inappropriately considering the probable motive of the El Paso shooting) that legislation for gun control be tied to immigration legislation, he all but guarantees it will never pass. He sees this as an “opportunity” to either get his way regarding immigration or to point to the Democrats as the cause of non-passage of gun legislation, and consequently will keep the NRA happy, willing to again support him. It’s WIN vs WIN for him; it’s the epitome of politicizing a horrific event.
174
With Trump, even protecting us from gun violence is a zero sum game. He must get something (immigration control) before he agrees to background checks. By tying background checks, which most American's desperately want, to a complex political issue, again immigration, Trump lessens the chance that background checks will be universally implemented. Someone who truly cares about the safety of people, someone who is truly capable of empathy, would not play this game.
55
@J. Colby. Good point showing just how transactional Trump is: he will never give you something unless he gets something he wants back even more, so he can back pedal one and brag about the other.
If those pesky people hadn't been in the Walmart in the first place, this wouldn't have happened. Clearly immigration reform is key to effective gun control.
23
The only reason Trump is calling for stronger background checks now is to divert the media from the blame he’s getting for the violence.
29
Short of repealing the 2nd ammendent, not sure why it would be so difficult to only make bolt action hunting rifles, double barrel shotguns and .38 revolvers the only weapons available to the public.
Lost in all of this is the 47 people that were shot in Chicago this weekend as well. Make this the lead policy for 2020.
12
@Midwest Josh
I was telling someone yesterday that there were as many as 4 mass shootings Saturday. There were 2 in Chicago that mostly flew under the radar. It does look like they may have been carried out by the same person, so it might technically be only one mass shooter there. Regardless, most people didn't even hear about them.
1
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and would go up to Dayton all the time. We as black people in the United states need to pay closer attention to our surroundings. Stop talking on your cell phone when you are walking down the street on in the store. This is not longer schools it is everywhere. I am so sorry and pray for the families who lost their love ones. One last thing it is time for the current administration to leave office.
6
It is SHAMEFUL that Trump would link background checks for guns with immigration reform. Is the implication that if Congress doesn’t agree to his version of immigration “reform,” he will allow the carnage to continue? I fear we are in the opening stages of civil war. Why won’t our so called leaders defend America’s democracy?
111
@Rosemary Kuropat. They don’t care about democracy. They care about corporate profits and the “investment” of those in their personal election campaigns. In addition, they act or do not act because Moscow Mitch controls what gets to the floor of the Senate for a vote.
2
Trump's implication that immigration reform will help curb this problem is ludicrous. The republican party is not much better hiding behind the second amendment. I hope people will go back and read the study published in November of 2017 focusing on the real problem of gun violence in our country...too many guns.
36
and Trump has to tie these tragedies in with immigration laws. He just doesn't get it, does he? Nor, I suspect, will he ever.
10
Unfortunately I don't have much faith that this will happen. It should have happened a very long time ago. The NRA and others will fight this tooth and nail. It's all rhetoric again! I pray that something will happen soon and not later. No matter what people say, the man in the White House, is responsible because people do listen to what he says. You don't go give a speech to a group and begin bad talking others and then allowing chants of hate to go on while you stand there watching, smiling, and waving your hands up in the air in agreement.
4
Linking immigration reform to these shootings bolsters the beliefs of those who are targeting non-whites in these crimes of domestic terrorism. And of course, Trump is well aware of this, it's a not-so-subtle thumbs up that immigration is the "problem," not guns combined with insecure, angry white males who see validation in this Administration. Trump as always finds a way to play to his base. And encourage future acts of domestic terrorism.
25
The problem doesn't seem to be with immigration laws. We should act against those that believe they are superior and enabled to act on their own. The people that came here, did not create the environment where in white males feel it necessary and called upon them to act in this way, that comes from the inside and it needs to be address. Don't blame the victims.
4
Tying gun control legislation to passing a Republican-dictated immigration reform bill is both despicable and immoral. It's blackmail pure and simple. The American people's right to live without fear of being shot to pieces by assault weapons should be non-negotiable in a sane society. I'm sick and tired of hearing "our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families." Sadly, Republicans in the Senate and Trump will continue to cower under the gaze of the NRA and do absolutely nothing to make us safer.
28
The technical name for linking gun safety to immigration is "poison pill."
57
@Applarch yes, well put, then Trump and his supporters can blame the Democrats for not passing the gun control/immigration bill. Watch for one of the Republican toadies to submit a sure-to-fail bill on the floor of Congress soon. But maybe some reasonable Republican congress people will push back this time on the concept of marrying the two issues together. I hope so.
2
Of course Trump is linking gun laws with immigration.
He knows that that will make it even MORE impossible to pass gun legislation, since it will be "married" (as he said) to immigration legislation which will probably be unacceptable and too draconian.
Evil!
5
Trump finally suggests some gun legislation while Congress is off collecting money until the second week of September.
1
So, the best our president can come up with is a swap of background checks for immigration reform. Shameless. Everything is transactional with Trump.
96
What on earth is Trump tweeting about on background checks.There is a Democratic House passed bill strengthening background checks sitting in the Senate awaiting action.Trump does need to give a speech to the nation about legislation, he needs to give a speech to Mitch McConnell and tell him and all complicit Republicans to take up this legislation and to pass it! A broken shoulder should not keep McConnell from returning to Washington to reconvene the Senate and pass the legislation which is already sitting on his desk.Trump is trying to blame the media and the Democrats-it is high time for him to be introspective-that will not happen nor will Republicans see themselves as complicit with his racist speech!
8
Trump knows Democrats want gun control, so he thinks he can get them to vote for his immigration laws by linking them to gun control laws. What a cynical proposal that is. These shootings weren't committed by immigrants, they were the work of American-born citizens, and changing immigration law will have no effect on curtailing future shootings. Even when Trump has a chance to do something meaningful, he degrades it.
20
Trump's 'offer' is another shameless, amoral moment in his presidency. If he was ever serious about gun control, including background checks, he had his chance multiple times. The Democratic House passed two gun control bills this year. Mitch McConnell refused to allow a vote on them in the Senate.
The only sensible response, long term, is to end Republican control of the Senate, the House, and the Oval Office, in 2020. Then the NRA, too, will be sent packing.
16
@Down 62- You are so correct!
Trying to tie background checks to immigration reform???? These heinous acts were carried out by young white men. This is Trump continuing to try and paint this as a problem with the other. Don’t let him get away with it.
43
What does immigration reform have to do with mass shootings and gun control?
The only linkage is that vile hate speech contributed to immigrants being killed.
So on that front, President Trump, lead the reform.
Stop the hate speech and chants at your rallies.
5
@Martin I know you realize that trump is the logical result of a party that has stoked the race issue since Nixon. the tape of Reagan and Nixon laughing about monkeys that aren't comfortable wearing shoes? the difference now is that the language is a little more opaque but right out in the open. we3 are at the point where we either shut this down or give in the authoritarianism. now? brown people. next? another "other". it is political survival for republicans.
1
@coale Johnson -
If this works for Republicans than our nation is even worse off than imagined.
Trump has no credibility, and neither does Mike DeWine, Ohio governor. Ohio's republicans have fallen in lock step with Trump basically turning over their political identities to him. In Ohio, a congressional map gerrymandered by John Boehner and his boys controls. No Ohio republican congressman would dare bite the hand that feeds them. Its time for Ohio to lead the nation by throwing these bums out.
3
In 2013, the so-called ‘gang of 8’ (4 Republicans, 4 Democrats) produced a bill, The Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 (S. 744) that passed the Senate with bipartisan support and a vote of 68-32. Speaker John Boehner refused to take it up in the House, even though it would have done many of the things that Trump wants (like establish a points-based system for immigration). Congress could take that up as a start, and marry it to a 2019 Marshall Plan for Central America, to help countries rebuild the societies that refugees are fleeing.
On gun legislation, yes to strong background checks, but also a renewal of the assault weapons ban and a strong buy-back program to reduce the obscene number of guns in our society.
10
@Ockham9. On the other hand, I wouldn’t get too enthusiastic about Trump’s announcement. Remember that after Parkland, he made a similar statement. Then his NRA handlers talked him out of it.
3
trump's advise of any kind is toxic and FAKE. he is the cause of the nation's misery and needs to be IMPEACHED for a list of issues. the gop his enablers will NEVER be vindicated. the gop and trump are America's achilles heel. We need to get rid of these two nation enemies.
228
@rn and the need is to take back the senate. not nearly enough attention is being paid to that.
1