President Donald Trump is weighing in on Sunday’s massacre at a Texas church which left 26 dead.
Speaking during a press conference in Japan, the president cited the shooter’s “mental health” and stressed his belief that “this isn’t a guns situation.”
“Mental health is your problem here. This was a very — based on preliminary reports — a very deranged individual. Lot of problems over a long period of time. We have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries,” he said. “This isn’t a guns situation, we could go into it, it’s a little bit soon to go into it.”
Trump also made sure to note reports that the shooter, identified as former Air Force serviceman Devin Kelley, had been chased off by a good Samaritan armed with a rifle.
“Fortunately somebody else had a gun who was shooting in the opposite direction otherwise it would have been much worse,” Trump said. “This is a mental health problem at the highest level. it’s a very, very sad event. These are great people and a very, very sad event, but that’s the way I view it.”
The comments from Trump reflect the boilerplate GOP response to non-terrorism-related mass shootings in recent years and suggests the president does not plan to use the incident to push any specific legislation surrounding gun violence.