President Donald Trump indicated on Saturday that the shooting in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh wouldn’t spur any change to existing gun laws. Speaking to a group of reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Trump referred to existing gun laws as “having little to do” with the shooting, in a video shared by CNN. “If there was an armed guard inside the temple, they would have been able to stop [the shooter].” The wounded includes four armed police officers who arrived at the scene. In his statement, he did not consider any plans to consider gun control legislation that would drastically reduce the frequency of mass shootings — even proposals that are popular with the public — because “this dispute will always exist.”
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Earlier, Trump also said in a tweet, “Events in Pittsburgh are far more devastating than originally thought,” adding later to reporters that it was a “terrible, terrible thing.” He also said that the crime “appears” to be a hate crime. “We're learning a lot about it. It looks definitely like it's an anti-Semitic crime,” he said. He then expressed incredulity that hate crimes and mass shootings still occur, saying, “That is something you wouldn't believe could still be going on.” Trump addressed the shooting at a Future Farmers of America event in Indianapolis, IN, that evening, saying that he considered canceling but "we can't let evil change our life and change our schedule.”
Reporter: "Mr. President, do you think you need to revisit gun laws?"
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 27, 2018
President Donald Trump: "This has little to do with it ... If they had protection inside, the results would've been far better" https://t.co/wHoucPm9ly pic.twitter.com/R5F8fgIDrU
Later on Saturday, Trump called the shooting an "assault on humanity" on Twitter. "It will take all of us working together to extract the poison of Anti-Semitism from our world. We must unite to conquer hate," he wrote.
...This evil Anti-Semitic attack is an assault on humanity. It will take all of us working together to extract the poison of Anti-Semitism from our world. We must unite to conquer hate.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2018
Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf parted ways with the president’s apparent reluctance to consider strengthening gun laws in the wake of the latest mass shooting. “We must all pray and hope for no more loss of life,” he said, reported the Associated Press. “But we have been saying ‘this one is too many’ for far too long. Dangerous weapons are putting our citizens in harm’s way.”
Parkland shooting survivor and activist David Hogg also expressed his regret at inertia regarding gun control legislation, but also his willingness to continue the “fight.” In a tweet, he wrote: “It hurts every time I see these headlines and then the political inaction... but we have the power to change it. Squirrel Hill my heart is with you. We will fight for you every single day.”
Trump has previously declined to push for any gun legislation and has floated the idea of arming teachers in schools as a means of defense. After the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017, which killed 58 people and injured over 600 more, Trump endorsed legislation banning the sale of bump stocks, and stated that such action is “coming soon.”