President Donald Trump proposed Monday that Congress pass a bill that united more background checks for guns and immigration reform in the wake of the mass shootings in Ohio and Texas over the weekend.
“Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!”
The president proposed the unlikely scenario hours before his planned speech in response to the shootings. Twenty were killed in El Paso, Texas on Saturday and nine were killed in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday.
Democrats blamed Trump for the shootings, accusing him of being a white nationalist spreading hate in the country.
“We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain. Likewise for those so seriously wounded,” Trump wrote. “We can never forget them, and those many who came before them.”
Trump plans to address the shootings at 10:00 EST on Monday. He noted Sunday that mental health was a critical component of the duel attacks.
“We have to get it stopped. This has been going on for years and years in our country and we have to get it stopped,” he told reporters as he boarded Air Force One to return to the White House.
When asked what he proposed to do with guns, he said that he was talking with lawmakers about some kind of action.
“We’re talking to a lot of people, and a lot of things are in the works, and a lot of good things,” he said.
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