Trump, avoiding talk of gun policy, tells Las Vegas shooting survivors: 'We will endure the pain together'
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President Donald Trump told the people of Las Vegas that the nation stands with them as they bear the pain of the worst gun massacre in modern US history, saying, ‘We will struggle through it together.’ (Oct. 4)
AP
WASHINGTON — In the shadow of the Las Vegas hotel from which a sniper killed 58 people, President Trump on Wednesday took on the grim and now all-too-common duty of modern presidents: Comforting the victims of a mass shooting.
As he met with police, first responders, and survivors of the deadly attack that also wounded at least 500 people, Trump avoided discussing gun control policy or the ongoing investigation into the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
Instead, he sought to focus on the grief of Americans who lost loved ones and the bravery of those who tended to the victims and saved lives.
“In the months ahead, we will all have to wrestle with the horror that unfolded this week, but we will struggle through it together,” Trump said in formal remarks at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “May God bring healing to the families of the wounded, the injured, and the fallen.”
After landing in Las Vegas, both Air Force One and the presidential motorcade rolled within sight of Mandalay Bay, the hotel from which a sniper fired upon at people attending a concert Sunday night.
Trump met with patients and medical personnel at a local hospital in a stunned city crawling with security. “The message I have is: ‘We have a great country and we are there for you,'” he said.Â
In many ways, Trump’s calls for national unity and healing on this visit followed in the footsteps of President Obama, who spoke at memorials after other mass shootings during his term, including for murdered elementary schoolchildren in Connecticut, African-American churchgoers in South Carolina, and slain police officers in Texas.
However, Obama sometimes used these occasions to propose stricter rules for gun purchases, Trump has stayed silent on the issue. When a reporter in Las Vegas asked Trump if he would offer any gun policy proposals, he said simply: “We are not going to talk about that today.”
Unlike Tuesday’s visit with hurricane victims in Puerto Rico — where he made a joke about the cost of the federal relief efforts and told locals they could be proud that only 16 people had died versus the “literally thousands” who were killed Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — Trump stayed very much on script in Las Vegas.
In his speech to cap the day, he discussed his meetings with hospitalized patients, and “we ask God to ease their suffering.” He paid tribute to those who lost loved ones in a hail of bullets white attending a country music concert.
“Our souls are stricken with grief,” the president said. “We know your sorrow feels endless. … We will endure the pain together. We will overcome it together as Americans.”
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Trump’s response to the Las Vegas shooting appears in stark contrast to another attack that took place when he was a candidate: the 2016 mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub.
At that time, Trump harped on the specter of terrorism, tweeting at one point in the aftermath of the attack that killed 49 people and injured dozens more. “Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism.”Â
In Vegas, Trump was cautious about giving any details as investigators work. Trump said law enforcement officials have not yet determined what motivated shooting suspect Stephen Paddock, but they are “looking very hard.” In a meeting with law enforcement officers, Trump described the shooter as a “sick, demented man.”
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Sean Bean, of Livermore, Calif., hugs his girlfriend, Katie Kavetski, of San Leandro, Calif., left, as Travis Reed, of Mexico, Ind., right, comforts his girlfriend, Anna Travnicek, second from right, on Las Vegas Strip. All attended the concert where the mass shooting occurred.Â
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Contributing: Brett Kelman and Alden Woods reported from Las Vegas.Â
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This Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, photo provided by Tom Day Sr., shows his son Tom Day Jr, with Day Jr.’s family, at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas. Day Jr., was one of the people killed in Las Vegas after a gunman opened fire on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, at the music festival.Â
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