Democrats criticize Trump, saying mental health reform is not enough to combat gun violence

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - President Donald Trump is receiving a lot of criticism from Democrats after he appeared to favor mental health reform over strict gun laws in a press conference on Monday. Many are sounding off on what they would like to see happen.

President Trump did mention he was open to suggestions on how to deal with mass shootings in our country. Congressman Al Green had no problem jumping on the president, saying Trump did nothing but give statements meant to cause a distraction from the real issues. He says, “Mental health is important. I believe in red flag laws, but I don’t believe that we can allow ourselves to be distracted by a president who would now assign mental health issues to these two persons who have no history that we know of, of mental health.“

Green wants more to be done to stop mass shootings in our country, and says that we can start by blaming what’s happening inside the country, instead of overlooking the issues.

“These weapons have no place on the streets of our country, and the president could have addressed these weapons of war and destruction,” said Green.

The congressman also suggested universal background checks, and closing loop holes at gun shows where people make purchases. Houstonians we spoke with are also fed up. They agree mental health needs to be addressed, but that we can’t ignore the other issues.

Shawn Miller tells FOX 26, “If you’re going to start throwing laws and stuff in there that aren’t going to do anything, then you’re just making laws to make laws and just to make yourself look good.“

Jo-el Rouse said, “The president should denounce these acts of violence, number one, unequivocally, and number two, definitely start putting pressure on gun laws to change.“

Congressman Green also brought up his continuing quest to impeach the president as one of his solutions. This would be the fourth time Green has tried to do so. However, some felt the problems lay deeper.

Karol Irving says, “Yes, impeachment is probably where we should go, but I don’t think that’s going to solve the issue. There’s so many more underlying issues, like to the point where we’ve gotten at now. He shouldn’t have been in there in the first place.“