Florida massacre suspect had allegedly commented online, ‘I’m going to be a professional school shooter’
Trump addresses the nation after Florida shooting
President Trump has addressed the nation about mass shootings four times throughout his time in office. On Thursday, President Trump tweeted that the shooter involved in Florida’s Parkland High School tragedy showed signs of being “mentally disturbed,” and urged for greater awareness for similar cases.
In November, President Trump cited mental health as the reason for the Sutherland Springs, Texas, church shooting that left 26 people dead.
“Mental health is your problem here. This was a very, based on preliminary reports, a very deranged individual, a lot of problems over a long period of time. We have a lot of mental health problems in our country, as do other countries. But this isn’t a guns situation,” President Trump said of the First Baptist Church shooting during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
According to estimates from the previous administration, had the Obama-era regulation gone into effect, an estimated 75,000 individuals with mental illnesses would have been added to the database. These individuals would have been notified by the Social Security Administration of their possible restrictions to buy firearms but would have the opportunity go through an appeal process.
Although the rule was made effective days before Trump took office in January 2017, compliance was not required until December 2017.
At the time, the optics of the bill’s signing seemed to be downplayed by the White House despite the president’s busy, public schedule that day — he addressed the Joint Session of Congress later that evening.
The White House has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
