White House: 'Too soon' to talk about stopping mass shootings after 12 killed in Virginia

Virginia Beach joined a too-long list of cities ravaged by gun violence after 12 people died on Friday afternoon when a gunman opened fire in a city government building.

But on Sunday, Mick Mulvaney, the White House chief of staff, said it is “too soon” to even talk about solutions to America’s gun violence epidemic.

“We have too many of these shootings, and every time the first thing we talk about is politics,” Mulvaney said on “Meet the Press.”

Mulvaney added, “Let’s not get too deep into politics too soon. Let’s think about the families.”

Even though Mulvaney said the focus should be on the families, Trump could not muster a statement about the families when he visited a Virginia church on Sunday.

Trump showed up unannounced at McLean Bible Church on “Pray for Donald Trump Day” Sunday, wearing golf shoes and a baseball cap. According to the White House, it was a “visit with the Pastor and pray for the victims and community of Virginia Beach.” But Trump made no remarks at the church and the pastor did not once bring up the shooting in Virginia Beach, according to CNN.

Virginia Beach became home to the 150th mass shooting in America this year. May 31, the day of the shooting, was the 150th day of 2019, meaning there was on average a mass shooting every day this year. Mulvaney did not say when the appropriate time to discuss gun violence would be, nor how many more people would die on its watch before the Trump administration would take any substantive action to curb gun violence.

In Congress, the House has passed two major gun safety bills this year, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to call them up for a vote and Trump has not expressed any interest in moving them forward.

For Trump’s White House and Republican leaders, it’s always too soon to talk about gun violence prevention or take any action, no matter how much blood is shed.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.