This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/02/donald-trump-condolences-las-vegas-shooting

The article has changed 13 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Donald Trump sends 'warmest condolences' after Las Vegas shooting Donald Trump sends 'warmest condolences' after Las Vegas shooting
(35 minutes later)
Donald Trump tweeted on Monday to extend condolences to the victims of the shooting in Las Vegas and their families.Donald Trump tweeted on Monday to extend condolences to the victims of the shooting in Las Vegas and their families.
“My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting,” the president wrote. “God bless you!”“My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting,” the president wrote. “God bless you!”
The White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Trump was “briefed on the horrific tragedy in Las Vegas”.The White House spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Trump was “briefed on the horrific tragedy in Las Vegas”.
Sanders said that “we are monitoring the situation closely and offer our full support to state and local officials. All of those affected are in our thoughts and prayers.”Sanders said that “we are monitoring the situation closely and offer our full support to state and local officials. All of those affected are in our thoughts and prayers.”
A gunman’s attack on the Sunday night country music concert killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 200. A gunman’s attack on the Sunday night country music concert killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 200. It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, with at least 50 dead.
It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, with at least 50 dead. Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, said: “My heart goes out to the victims, their families, the first responders, and the entire Las Vegas community.
Since Trump’s inauguration, there have been other mass shootings, including one in Texas last month, when a gunman killed eight and was fatally shot by police. “Nowhere but America do horrific large-scale mass shootings happen with this degree of regularity. Last night’s massacre may go down as the deadliest in our nation’s history, but already this year there have been more mass shootings than days in the year.”
Murphy, an outspoken advocate of gun control, added: “This must stop. It is positively infuriating that my colleagues in Congress are so afraid of the gun industry that they pretend there aren’t public policy responses to this epidemic. There are, and the thoughts and prayers of politicians are cruelly hollow if they are paired with continued legislative indifference.
“It’s time for Congress to get off its ass and do something.”
Since Trump’s inauguration there have been other mass shootings, including one in Texas last month, when a gunman killed eight and was fatally shot by police. But this will be seen as the first major test of a president who unabashedly embraced the National Rifle Association (NRA) as part of his electoral coalition.
Trump did strike a rare bipartisan note in June after a shooting at a congressional baseball practice that injured five people, including the House majority whip, Steve Scalise. But he has drawn criticism for reactions to other acts of violence.
After a deadly terrorist attack in London in June, Trump targeted the city’s mayor on Twitter, twisting his words to suggest that he was not taking the threat seriously enough.
In the wake of a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that left 49 dead people last year, the then presidential candidate tweeted: “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism.”
The response was startlingly at odds with Barack Obama’s measured words in response to a series of mass shootings on his watch. He described the killing of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 as the darkest day of his presidency and wept in public. He sang Amazing Grace at the funeral for Clementa Pinckney, a pastor shot dead along with eight others at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.