killer. Mexico is visible from the car park on a clear day. Thousands of Central American families have
sought asylum in the city, which is home to generations of Mexican-Americans and seen as a symbol of
integration.
“This is about hate,” said Veronica Escobar, El Paso’s Democratic congresswoman. Beto O’Rourke, a
contender for the Democratic presidential nomination who comes from El Paso, pointed the finger of blame
at Donald Trump. He told CNN: “He is a racist. He is stoking racism in this country ... and it
fundamentally changes the character of the country and leads to violence.”
The US president has condemned the “tragic” El Paso shootings as “an act of cowardice” and a “hateful
act”. But his critics have a point. Mr Trump deliberately and cynically played the race card as he launched
his re-election campaign, suggesting that four Democratic congresswomen of colour should “go back” to
their own countries. (No matter that three of them were born in America.)
Far from showing an ounce of regret, his supporters are delighted that the Democrats rallied behind the
four congresswomen known as the Squad, giving Mr Trump the dividing line he wants at next year’s
presidential election. Among them was Nigel Farage, leader of the Brexit Party, who said: “It was genius
because what’s happened is the Democrats gather round the Squad, which allows him to say, ‘Oh look, the
Squad are the centre of the Democratic Party’.”
The next time Mr Trump goes down this track, as he surely will, his admirers at home and abroad should
stop and think about El Paso. We cannot yet be sure about the killer’s motivation. But we can be sure the
president has poisoned the debate about immigration – including his unwarranted attacks on Hispanics and
Mexicans – in a way that can have grave consequences. El Paso might be one of them.
As for America’s debate about gun control, there have been so many mass shootings – more than 250 this
year alone – that it is hard to be optimistic this weekend’s events will change anything. Today, America is a
country where children go to school with bulletproof book bags on their backs; drills on what to do in an
attack are part of the school routine. There have been some moving calls for reform by children affected by
school shootings, and effective campaigns such as March for Our Lives.
Yet public opinion has not moved as much as we would have hoped. While there is growing support for
tighter background checks on prospective gun owners, the country remains very divided. Some 42 per cent
of people live in a household with a gun, and at least two-thirds have lived in one with a gun at some point
in their lives. Some 59 per cent of those who do not own guns see gun violence as a major problem, but only
a third of gun owners view it as an issue, according to the Pew Research Centre.
The powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) has a grip on too many members of congress, and the
constitution’s second amendment on the right to bear arms weighs heavily on the debate. Mr Trump
acknowledged the case for reform by backing restrictions on the supply and possession of “bump-stock”
mechanisms that convert semi-automatic rifles to machine guns. He should now go further. But the omens
are not good; he told an NRA convention in 2017: “You have a true friend and champion in the White
House.”
The president counts Boris Johnson as a true friend. Let us hope the prime minister gives Mr Trump a
friendly nudge in the direction of reform when they meet later this month.