Texas church shooting: Donald Trump says massacre at church is 'not a gun situation'
NB: A mentally ill man convicted of violent crimes against his own family, and dishonourably discharged from the Army, has no problem buying guns legally. He massacres 26 people in church with an assault gun of the type freely available in USA, where there are more guns than people. His mentally-challenged President says its not a gun problem but a mental health problem (as if the two are mutually exclusive opposites). In March, Trump signed a bill allowing mentally ill people to buy guns. Given his short attention span, we can't expect him to remember in November what he signed in March. Yes there's a mental health problem in the USA. It starts with Donald Trump, and affects millions, not least the NRA, KKK and a sizeable part of the established political order. They are certifiable lunatics. Not much use saying 'our thoughts and prayers are with the victims' is there? The victims were praying and in a church. It seems God has forsaken even his devotees. (PS: No excuses for my part of the world, we have our own criminally insane persons in high office). DS
Donald Trump has
said the worst mass shooting in the modern history of Texas is not "a guns
situation". The US President spoke
after a gunman walked into a church in a small town near San Antonio and opened
fire, killing
at least 26 people between the ages of five and 72. The suspect —
named as 26-year-old Devin Patrick
Kelley — fled in his car after he was shot at by a local resident of
Sutherland Springs. He was later found dead from apparent gunshot wounds in a
neighbouring county, with a cache of weapons in his vehicle.
The massacre has
sparked renewed calls for tighter gun control laws
in the US. Asked at a press conference in Tokyo what policies he might
support in response to the shooting, Mr Trump said preliminary reports
suggested the gunman was "a very deranged individual, [with] a lot of
problems."
"We have a lot of
mental health problems in our country, as do other countries. But this isn't a
guns situation," he said. "Fortunately somebody else had a gun that
was shooting in the opposite direction. "This is a mental health problem
at the highest level," he added. "It's a very, very sad event." Authorities
have not yet determined Kelley's motive and have not broached the topic of the
gunman's
mental health.
Earlier this Mr Trump
signed a resolution blocking a rule that would have prevented an estimated
75,000 people with mental health disorders buying guns. The rule was part of
former president Barack Obama's push to strengthen the federal background check
system in the wake of the 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School
shooting in Newtown, Connecticut… read more:
Read about the gun: North Carolina gave
the shooter’s company as much as $13.7 million in tax
breaks, after a bidding process in which the state raised its offer 3 times. America would have to find new jobs for 2,110 people if the shooter’s
manufacturer, Sturm, Ruger, & Co., shut down entirely. At the beginning of
October, 11,600 Americans had
been killed by gun violence so far in 2017...
