President Trump says securing America's schools is now his administration's top priority, after the suspect in yesterday's school shooting in Florida was charged with the premeditated murder of 17 people.
But the President offered no indication that he favors tightening America's gun control laws.
Our Washington Correspondent Simon Marks reports.
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This was the 4th time President Trump has had to interrupt his day to speak publicly after an incident of mass gun violence in America.
He said the nation is in grief, and collectively sharing one heavy heart.
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He spoke directly to the nation's children.
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And he vowed to lead a task force aimed at making America's schools safe, with a particular focus on mental illness.
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That, he called his government's top priority…..but he never referred to the ability of 19 year old Nicholas Cruz, now facing 17 charges of premeditated murder, legally to acquire an AR-15 assault rifle…..the same kind of gun used in earlier massacres in Las Vegas, Texas, Orlando and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
While the President said nothing about gun control…Paul Ryan, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives indicated his opposition to any talk of tighter laws.
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But other Republicans are wobbling.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, a top member of the Trump Cabinet, indicated he thinks Congress now needs to take the issue on.
And Florida Governor Rick Scott…at the scene of the school shooting….connected the dots between the mentally ill suspect and his ability to acquire a weapon.
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Many students at the school say they weren't entirely surprised by Wednesday's events….they had previously joked that if anyone was going to attack the school it would be Nicholas Cruz, a former student and loner with a deeply troubled disciplinary record.
And those students who lived through the assault are becoming vocal advocates of the need to address the easy availability of guns at least in Florida.
David Hogg is one of them, and he spoke to CNN.
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And yet none of that changes the political equation here: the all-powerful National Rifle Association remains a moneyed and articulate advocate of gun rights that it insists are rooted in the 2nd Amendment to America's Constitution.
President Trump says he'll visit the scene of the attack and offer the nation's support to the grief-stricken after this, the 18th school shooting in the United States so far this year.
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