POLITICS AUGUST 15, 2019 / 5:39 PM / UPDATED 15 MINUTES AGO

Trump blames mass shootings on mentally ill, calls for more mental institutions

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Thursday he supports meaningful background checks for gun buyers, but he said that those responsible for recent mass shootings were mentally ill and the United States should build more mental institutions.

Trump said he had been speaking with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and many other Republicans about the problem of gun violence, and “they don’t want to have insane people, dangerous people, really bad people having guns.”

“We don’t want crazy people owning guns,” the president told reporters in Morristown, New Jersey. “It’s them. They pull the trigger. The gun doesn’t pull the trigger. They pull the trigger. So we have to look very seriously at mental illness.”

Trump is under pressure to curb gun violence following two mass shootings that killed dozens of people this month in Texas and Ohio. His comments came as he started a trip from New Jersey to address a campaign rally in New Hampshire.

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