Trump minimizes background checks after the mass shot of Odessa

President Donald Trump said Sunday that a mass shootout that had taken place a day earlier in Texas "had really changed nothing" about how lawmakers approach the legislation on the control of fire arms.

"We are dealing with Democrats and Republicans, and a lot of things will be presented to them by many different people.I have talked to a lot of Senators, many House members, Republicans, Democrats – it really has not changed anything, we make a package and we'll see how that goes, "Trump said outside Marine One. "It does not depend on what happened yesterday in Texas."

"In the last five, six or seven years, no matter how hard the background checks, nothing would have been stopped," he said.

On Sunday, authorities were still gathering information on Saturday's attack around Odessa, Texas, where an armed gunman opened randomly after a roadside check, killing at least seven people and injuring more people. from a dozen. The police did not publicly confirm the identity of the suspect nor the weapons that he used.

This was the second big shooting in Texas in recent weeks. An armed man in early August opened fire on a shopping area in El Paso, killing 22 people. The alleged gunman appeared to have put on line an anti-immigrant cope before the attack.

Trump administration officials, Republicans and Democrats were pressed during the last shot in Sunday's political debates. Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan told ABC's "This Week" show that such attacks should "absolutely" be considered "a threat to homeland security."

"They pose an absolute threat to homeland security," McAleenan said. "In our counterterrorism strategy and approach, national terrorism has been at the center of our concerns."

McAleenan highlighted the establishment, earlier this year, of an office dedicated to "Preventing Targeted Violence and Terrorism, with an explicit focus on national terrorism, including racially motivated violent extremism." , that we have seen too much in recent weeks. " month."

At the same time, former Texas representative Beto O. Rourke, a Democratic presidential candidate, has called the number of mass shootings in the United States "angry."

"The rhetoric we used, the thoughts and prayers you just referred to did nothing to stop the outbreak of gun violence," said O & Rourke in "L & # 39; CNN "State of the Union". "To protect our children, our families and our American compatriots in public places." In a Walmart in El Paso, where 22 people were killed, in Southerland Springs, in a church, one or two a day across the country. 100 people are killed every day in the United States of America, no other country is near. "

In the CBS "Face the Nation" show, O 'Rourke called for universal background checks, red flag laws and the purchase of weapons by owners, as well as the "big deal". AR-15.

"We must follow the example of these mothers who demand action, students who march for their lives, who have themselves announced ambitious plans for us to protect each other and our children do not not afraid to go to school or to the future of this country, "he said.

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary of the NBC channel, Julian Castro, also a candidate for the Democratic presidency, said he would "maximize executive power" to fight armed violence and to prevent violence. would strive to exercise "as much pressure" as possible on the Republican movement. Senators hoping to reach a compromise bill on gun control.

Senator Rick Scott, R-Fla., Also stated that the problem of gun violence was "There are too many people with mental illnesses that we do not treat in any way or way. another and who have access to weapons, no. "