Trump calls for strict background checks for gun purchases

Washington D.C. [USA], Feb 22 (ANI): United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday called for the implementation of strict background checks for gun purchases, following the deadly school shooting at a Florida high school last week.

"Whether we are Republican or Democrat, we must now focus on strengthening Background Checks!" Trump posted on Twitter.

Trump on Tuesday recommended a ban on 'bump stocks' gun devices and directed his Attorney General, Jeff Sessions to make the proposed changes in the country's gun control law, in the wake of the shooting tragedy.

The bump-stock gun modification was used in the Las Vegas shooting incident, which occurred in October last year. It claimed 58 lives and injured more than 500 people. It was the deadliest attack to ever take place on US soil, since the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the CNN reported.

The Islamic State (IS) had later claimed the attack.

The US President said that he expected regulations to ban the devices to be finished "very soon."

The survivors of the Florida shooting are planning a march called the "March for Our Lives," which will be held next month in Washington D.C.

During the march, the students will demand that children's lives and safety become a priority and that the gun violence and mass shootings in schools should end soon.

Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania's Senator told on Tuesday that a bill would be introduced soon to expand background checks for people purchasing guns, The Washington Post reported.

Last week, nineteen-year-old shooter, Nikolas Cruz, went on a rampage at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida and gunned down 17 students and injured 14 others. He allegedly used an AR-15 assault rifle that he had purchased legally.

Cruz was a former student and was expelled from the high school for disciplinary reasons. He has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.

After the incident, many lawmakers, gun control advocates and student survivors of the Florida school shooting have urged the Trump administration to implement tougher gun measures.

Meanwhile, Florida legislators on Tuesday rejected a motion to consider a bill that would ban assault rifles in the US. The vote stood at 36-71. (ANI)