Dem Senator Slams Trump for Making U.S. More Prone to Gun Violence |
After a deadly shooting at Brown University which left two people dead and injured nine others, people across the country struggled Sunday to make sense of the event and the needless loss of life.
But while Americans tend to agree that mass shootings such as this one are a tragedy, much of the GOP, predictably, continues to engage in magical thinking—by pretending gun violence is not at all connected to being able to easily procure guns.
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy pointed out during an interview on CNN on Sunday that the president himself was making the problem much, much worse.
“Over the last year, President Trump has been engaged in a dizzying campaign to increase violence in this country,” Murphy said. “He is restoring gun rights to felons and people who have lost their ability to buy guns, he eliminated the White House office of gun violence protection, and he has stopped funding mental health grants and community anti–gun violence grants that Republicans and Democrats supported... He’s been engaged in a pretty deliberate campaign to try to make violence more likely in this country, and I think you’re unfortunately going to see the results of that on the streets of America.”
“That’s a pretty big statement. He’s in a campaign to make violence more likely?” the CNN anchor said.
“Of course,” Murphy said. Later, he continued: “The evidence tells you that when you stop funding mental health, you stop funding community anti–gun violence programs, when you give gun rights back to dangerous people, you’re going to have an increase in violence, that is knowable and that is foreseeable.”
Chris Murphy: "This is not shocking, because over the last year, President Trump has been engaged in a dizzying campaign to increase violence in this country. He is restoring gun rights to felons, eliminated the WH office of gun violence prevention, & he's stopped funding mental… pic.twitter.com/OQ9QYyVxHw
While authorities have reported that a person of interest in the shooting has been detained, details about the deadly attack at Brown University are still emerging. President Trump, for his part, weighed in on the situation Saturday night, saying, “All we can do right now is pray.”
President Donald Trump spread unconfirmed information about an active shooter at Brown University, potentially putting students’ lives in danger as they sheltered in place during the event.
On Saturday evening at around 4 p.m., a man entered a classroom with about 60 students and started shooting. The students were in a final exam review session for their Economics class. Two people were killed in the attack, and nine were injured.
On Saturday night, as students barricaded themselves inside dorms and libraries, Trump posted on Truth Social that “the suspect is in custody.”
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But this was not confirmed.
At 5:53 p.m., according to the Brown Daily Herald, Brown’s student newspaper, the department of public safety sent out an alert saying that the “situation remains ongoing.”
Trump posted at 5:44 p.m., writing that he had been “briefed” on the shooting and that a suspect was in custody.
Then, at 6:03 p.m., he retracted his statement, posting again on Truth Social that the police had reversed their previous statement.
Social media users and students pushed back on Trump’s characterization. One student posted, “I am at brown university they have not confirmed a shooter in custody please do not believe trump and stay inside.”
In a press conference later that night, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley also urged caution: “There is a lot of misinformation that can spread.… If it did not come from an official channel, it is not official.”
As of Sunday morning, the Providence police have a suspect in custody, multiple outlets report.
President Donald Trump’s Truth Social rants may be unhinged, but they have serious consequences: His violent rhetoric has spurred threats against nearly two dozen elected officials on both sides of the aisle.
According to a new tally by NBC News, Trump’s posts over the last few weeks have led to threats on a number of Democrats—but even more Republicans, including over a dozen Indiana state lawmakers, who the president was attempting to bully into voting for his gerrymandering scheme.
Democrats who have been threatened include senators Chuck Schumer and Elissa Slotkin, as well as the other five lawmakers who, along with Slotkin, Trump accused of sedition. On the Republican side, soon-to-be-former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene has been vocal about the threats she’s received since criticizing the president’s agenda, and over a dozen Indiana state senators have also received threats after being named out by Trump on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for........