Donald Trump has said that tighter gun controls could be married to “desperately needed
immigration reform” in response to the two mass shootings that left 29 people dead in El Paso,
Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, risking accusations of political opportunism in the face of tragedy.The president, who spent the weekend playing
golf at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, initially blamed mental illness for the killings rather than the pervasive influence of the US
fire arms lobby and has been heavily criticised over his rhetoric in the run up to the attacks, with
Democratic 2020 challenger Cory Booker charging him with “sowing seeds of hate in this country”.Pressure is meanwhile mounting on
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to recall the upper chamber of
Congress from its summer recess to finally vote on a universal background checks bill that was passed by the House of Representatives in February.Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load