The CEO of Twitter reacted angrily to President Trump’s reaction to the YouTube shooting on Tuesday and said it was ‘beyond time’ to take firmer action on gun control instead of just sending his ‘thoughts and prayers’.
Nasim Aghdam stormed the YouTube campus at San Bruno, California, on Tuesday at 1pm, injuring three people before committing suicide with the handgun she used to carry out the attack.
The 9mm handgun was registered to her.
On Tuesday afternoon, Trump, who has come under intense pressure to act on gun control since the February 14 Parkland massacre, tweeted: ‘Was just briefed on the shooting at YouTube’s HQ in San Bruno, California.
‘Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved. Thank you to our phenomenal Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders that are currently on the scene.’
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted his response to Trump’s ‘thoughts and prayers’ message about Tuesday’s YouTube shooting
Dorsey is pictured (left) in December. He told Trump it was ‘beyond time’ to take firmer action on the issue
It was not enough for Dorsey who responded later: ‘We can’t keep being reactive to this, thinking and praying it won’t happen again at our schools, jobs, or our community spots. It’s beyond time to evolve our policies.
Nasim Aghdam used a handgun to injure three then kill herself at the tech company’s HQ on Tuesday. It is not clear if she had a license or even bought the gun herself but her family had concerns over her mental health and reported her missing on Saturday
‘This is a simple and reasonable approach, and it won’t solve all, but it’s a good start.’
He then shared a link to a March For Our Lives webpage which outlines a plan to outlaw assault rifles and high capacity magazines, something Trump has not yet done.
In addition to banning rifles and high capacity magazines, its organizers are calling for tighter universal background checks and a change to law enforcement policies which would make policing gun ownership not just the responsibility of the ATF.
Trump placed a strong emphasis on the need for better background checks in the wake of the Parkland shooting.
He also strongly criticised the FBI which ignored multiple warnings about gunman Nikolas Cruz who despite being unstable and a problemed teenager, was able to buy an AR-15 and other weapons to murder 17 people at Stoneman Douglas High School.
He remains in custody in Florida.
Twitter’s HQ in San Francisco is a short distance to the YouTube HQ in San Bruno.
Security experts have called into question Silicon Valley’s notoriously trendy but seemingly easily accessible office ‘campuses’ since Tuesday’s shooting.
The March For Our Lives movement drew over a million people onto the streets of Washington DC and around the country on March 24 to protest against gun violence.