Trump: white supremacy an ‘evil contagion’

Donald Trump condemned white supremacy and pledged a new focus on disrupting online mass shooter plots.

Donald Trump speaks alongside Vice-President Mike Pence yesterday at the White House about the mass shootings in Texas and Ohio. Picture: AFP. AFpfrom

Donald Trump sharply condemned white supremacy and pledged a new focus on disrupting online mass shooter plots, but he didn’t unveil major gun-control proposals, in his first formal ­remarks since back-to-back massacres over the weekend.

As the US reeled from mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that left at least 31 dead, the President vowed to show resolve in the face of what he called an “evil contagion”.

“In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” Mr Trump said at the White House yesterday. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated.”

While Mr Trump called for ­bipartisan co-operation on gun ­violence, his proposals were ­focused on limiting access to guns for people with mental illnesses, and he didn’t call for sweeping ­restrictions on gun ownership.

He didn’t mention a call he made earlier on Twitter for both sides of congress to come together to work on “strong background checks” possibly coupled with ­immigration reform.

The President’s comments about white supremacy were his strongest to date. In El Paso, authorities are scrutinising an anti-­immigrant manifesto purportedly penned by suspect Patrick Crus­ius that described a potential mass shooting as a response to an ­“invasion of Texas” by Spanish-speaking immigrants.

Democrats accused Mr Trump of backpedaling on background checks and called for the Republican-controlled Senate to approve the legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled House of Representaves earlier this year.

“When he can’t mention guns while talking about gun violence, it shows the President remains prisoner to the gun lobby,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer in a joint statement.

The house has passed two bills to deal with background checks — one requires background checks for nearly all gun sales and the other extends the initial ­review period for checks from three to 10 business days. The White House earlier this year threatened to veto both.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he had asked ­Republican senators to find a solution “without infringing on Americans’ constitutional rights”.

After the shooting last year at a Parkland, Florida, high school Mr Trump backed a proposal to expand background checks and said some firearm sales should be ­restricted to people who are 21 or older. But he later retreated after a meeting with the National Rifle Association.

After Mr Trump’s tweet about background checks and immigration reform — two issues without bipartisan consensus in congress — his advisers urged him not to reiterate that proposal in his address, and he agreed.

“He’s looking at many different options,” White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway said.

The President called for an end to the “glorification of violence” in video games, saying the internet and social media have provided a pathway to radicalisation.

Mr Trump said the White House has asked the FBI to identify the additional resources needed “to investigate and disrupt hate crimes and domestic terrorism”.

He had directed the Justice Department to propose legislation to ensure those who commit hate crimes and mass murders face the death penalty. And he called for a legal overhaul to “better identify mentally disturbed individuals”, provide treatment and enable involuntary confinement when necessary.

“Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun,” Mr Trump said. He signed a bill repealing an Obama-era regulation aimed at blocking firearm purchases for the mentally ill.

He also endorsed red-flag laws, which have been adopted by more than a dozen states and are aimed at temporarily blocking dangerous people from accessing firearms. He also noted that his administration had outlawed bump stocks, devices used to increase the rate of fire of weapons.

Republican senator Lindsey Graham and Democrat Richard Blumenthal said they had agreed to a framework for a statute that would provide grants and other incentives to states to enable law-enforcement authorities and courts to confiscate firearms if a gun owner poses a danger to him or herself or to another person.

Senator Blumenthal said they would introduce the legislation “in the very near future”, and Senator Graham said that Mr Trump was “very supportive”.

The Wall Street Journal