President Trump said Thursday’s mass shooting at a Florida high school by a troubled young gunman shows the need for the U.S. to “tackle the difficult issue of mental health.”
In a live televised address to the nation, Mr. Trump said the tragedy in Parkland, Florida, that claimed 17 lives was the result of “hatred and evil.”
“We are committed to working with state and local leaders to help secure our schools, and tackle the difficult issue of mental health,” Mr. Trump said from the White House.
Stepping into the role again as comforter-in-chief, Mr. Trump announced that he will visit Parkland soon to meet with families of victims and with law-enforcement officials. He sought to reassure parents and children that school safety is a top priority.
“To every parent, teacher, and child who is hurting so badly, we are here for you — whatever you need, whatever we can do, to ease your pain,” the president said. “No child, no teacher, should ever be in danger in an American school. No parent should ever have to fear for their sons and daughters when they kiss them goodbye in the morning.”
As he has in the immediate aftermath of other such shootings, Mr. Trump didn’t address calls for more gun regulations. He said he will meet later this month with the nation’s governors and state attorneys general in a conference “where making our schools and our children safer will be our top priority.”
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“It is not enough to simply take actions to make us feel like we are making a difference,” the president said. “We must actually make that difference.”
Democrats and gun-control groups slammed Mr. Trump, noting that he never mentioned the word “gun” in his six-minute address.
Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, said the president’s words were meaningless.
“Donald Trump, who received more than $30 million from the NRA, just spoke directly to the children of America, promising to do whatever it takes to keep them safe,” she said. “Apparently that doesn’t include passing stronger gun laws because he didn’t mention the words ’gun violence’ once during his speech. We know why we have a crisis of school shootings in our nation, and we know how to curtail them: by preventing dangerous people from having easy access to guns.”
Less than an hour after Mr. Trump spoke, former President Barack Obama issued a call for more gun regulations.
“We are not powerless. Caring for our kids is our first job,” Mr. Obama tweeted. “And until we can honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep them safe from harm, including long overdue, common-sense gun safety laws that most Americans want, then we have to change.”
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Executive Director of Gun Owners of America Erich Pratt said it is disgusting to see media pundits and politicians calling for gun control as the knee-jerk reaction to this tragedy.”
“The fact is this tragedy happened in a gun free zone, where sadly over 98 percent of the public mass shootings occur,” he said. “No form of gun control will help prevent these tragedies.”
He said Congress instead should repeal gun-free school zones, to allow teachers and administrators to carry firearms to defend schools.
Some of the students at the targeted school also criticized Mr. Trump for failing to offer a concrete proposal.
“Unless you are going to do something about gun control so no one else experiences what my school has, shut the f — up,” tweeted student Morgan Williams.
Sophomore Isabella Gomez said on MSNBC, “He really needs to take into consideration gun control. There’s no reason that a kid, 19 years old that’s been investigated already, and not even a year ago, being able to purchase an AR-15.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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