Islam Times - Pelosi calls on Trump to push lawmakers to pass gun-control measures

Islam Times - US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has urged the president to cut short Congress' August recess in order to help the legislature pass urgent gun-control legislation.

“Today, as Speaker of the House, I am writing in good faith to request that you call the United States Senate back into session immediately ... to consider House-passed bipartisan gun violence prevention legislation,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to Trump on Thursday following last week's mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, which left at least 31 people dead and many more wounded.

Pelosi cited a section of the Constitution that allows the president to convene Congress lawmakers of the House, Senate or both chambers “on extraordinary occasions.”

“This extraordinary moment in our history requires all of us to take extraordinary action to save lives,” Pelosi wrote.

Trump has repeatedly expressed support for gun control measures after the recent mass shootings.

“There is a great appetite, and I mean a very strong appetite, for background checks. And I think we can bring up background checks like we’ve never had before,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday as he prepared to visit first responders and victims in both Dayton and El Paso.

Many lawmakers blame Trump, who has been described as the “primary cheerleader” for hate in the United States, for the El Paso terrorist attack.

Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric has been cited as the main reason for the terror attack.

"He is a racist, and he stokes racism in this country," said former Democratic congressman from Texas and current 2020 candidate for president, Beto O'Rourke.

The El Paso carnage came in the same week when two employees were fatally shot at another Walmart store in Southaven, Mississippi, and three people were shot and killed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California.