On Sunday afternoon, another mass shooting took place in the United States, this time at a small church in Texas. Following the incident, Donald Trump decided to offer his thoughts on social media.
Trump on Texas shooting
At the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Sunday afternoon, a shooter opened fire killing up to as many as 27 people and injuring dozens more. The church is reported to have roughly 50 members, with most in attendance at the time of the shooting, including children. By the time law enforcement arrived on the scene, the damage had been done, with the remaining victims being rushed to local Connally Memorial Medical Center.
According to eyewitnesses, the shooting lasted less than 30 seconds, with one comparing the shoots to the sound of an automatic weapon. As of press time, the identity of the shooter is unknown, though reports have confirmed that the suspect has been killed. This is the first mass shooting since last month's attack in Las Vegas where 64-year-old Stephen Paddock killed 58 people while injuring over 500 more who were attending a country music festival. In addition, the church shooting comes one week after an Islamic terrorist killed eight in New York City during a truck attack. In response to the news, Donald Trump made his remarks during a November 5 tweet.
May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2017
Taking to Twitter on Sunday afternoon, Donald Trump took time away from his foreign trip to address the mass shooting at the church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
"May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene," Trump tweeted out, before adding, "I am monitoring the situation from Japan." As expected, critics of the president were quick to lash out.
Multiple people dead, at least 15 injured in Texas church shooting, law enforcement sources say https://t.co/rbelCiVLFW
— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 5, 2017
Twitter reacts
Within moments of his tweet on the issue, Donald Trump faced immediate backlash from those who oppose his presidency.
"Guns DO kill people! GUNS make it easy for people to kill a lot of people. You don’t hear about 27 people dying from a knife carrying man, do you?" one Twitter user wrote.
I’m sick of people not thinking Guns are the problem. Hundreds of thousands of people would still be alive today if we had the gun laws of the UK!
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) November 5, 2017
They were in a church so not sure how god is going to help if he didn’t help there. Try common sense gun laws, maybe?
— Mitchell Nagy 🦃 (@mryannagy) November 5, 2017
And by “from Japan” you mean from a golf cart in Japan.
— Tommy Campbell (@MrTommyCampbell) November 5, 2017
So presidential.
"And by 'from Japan' you mean from a golf cart in Japan.
So presidential," Tommy Campbell tweeted out. "They were in a church so not sure how god is going to help if he didn’t help there. Try common sense gun laws, maybe?" another tweet added.
"Monitoring" when you can't demonize people for a political purpose and reacting with policy only when it suits your political needs. SAD
— Merry Prankster Army (@merrypranks) November 5, 2017
Monitor but does nothing,not even a call for a change of a weapon that causes the mass murder of his civilians EVERYDAY! He doesn’t care!
— BEPPA בבל בפה (@beppababel) November 5, 2017
"Monitor but does nothing,not even a call for a change of a weapon that causes the mass murder of his civilians EVERYDAY! He doesn’t care!" yet another Twitter user stated.
"Monitoring" when you can't demonize people for a political purpose and reacting with policy only when it suits your political needs. SAD" an additional tweet read. The backlash continued as new information about the mass shooting in Texas remains to be seen.
