Barrack Obama has tweeted a powerful open letter appearing to criticise President's Trump rhetoric after two mass shootings.

Obama responded to the weekend shootings in Ohio and Texas on Monday with a plea to Americans to reject the language of hatred, fear and intolerance from any of their leaders.

Without referring to Trump by name, he wrote: "We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments."

The shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, killed 31 people.

A 21-year-old white man has been charged with capital murder in Saturday's shooting spree in Texas.

Police in El Paso cited a racist, anti-immigrant manifesto posted online shortly before the shooting, which they attributed to the suspect.

Democrats said Trump was indirectly to blame for the attack in Texas, with some drawing connections between his rhetoric to a resurgence in nationalism and xenophobic sentiment.

In Dayton, Ohio, masked Connor Betts' rampage lasted less than a minute but he managed to fatally shoot nine people, including his younger sister Megan using a modified .223-calibre automatic rifle.

He was shot dead by officers at the scene.

Following the shootings, Trump proposed tighter monitoring of the internet, mental health reform and wider use of the death penalty in response to mass shootings.

Trump did not address accusations that his own anti-immigrant and racially charged comments have contributed to a rise in race tensions, nor did he call for broad gun control measures.

In a bizarre series of tweets the US President also linked the atrocities to migration despite both gunman being white Americans.

The President tweeted: "We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain.

"Likewise for those so seriously wounded. We can never forget them, and those many who came before them.

"Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying….

"….this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!"

Mr Trump, who called for "strong background checks", has overseen a ban on so-called bump stocks, but has not pursued large-scale gun control.

Barack Obama took executive actions on gun control, including on background checks and mental health.

Source: Read Full Article