Trump Slammed As Pressure Mounts For Gun Controls

Washington, Aug 9 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Aug, 2019 ) :Pressure built on the US Congress to pass tough gun control legislation Thursday as the mother of the man arrested for the slaughter of 22 people in El Paso, Texas said she had called police out of concern he had a military-style weapon.

But President Donald Trump and most Republicans continued to rebuff calls for action against an epidemic of mass shootings, conscious of the importance of gun owners to the party in next year's national elections.

The White House, meanwhile, was accused of using the two shootings last weekend to promote Trump, after it released a video of his visit to hospitalized shooting victims.

An aide gushed it showed him being greeted like a "rock star." Lawyers for the mother of Patrick Crusius, the accused El Paso shooter, said she had called police in Allen, Texas weeks before the August 3 attack because she was concerned about his owning an AK-47-type assault rifle.

The lawyers, Chris Ayres and R. Jack Ayres, of Dallas, told CNN that Crusius' mother was worried given her son's age, maturity level and lack of experience with such a weapon.

But a police officer told her that her 21-year-old son was legally allowed to purchase the weapon, and nothing was done about the "informational" call, according to the lawyers.