US President Donald Trump has proposed tighter monitoring of the internet, mental health reform and wider use of the death penalty in response to mass shootings over the weekend that killed 30 people in Texas and Ohio.
Mr Trump was speaking at a press conference in the White House today. Shortly afterwards it emerged that the death toll from the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, rose to 21 after one of the wounded died in hospital.
The man arrested for killing the 21 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, reportedly had racist motives and Mr Trump said Americans must "condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy".
Mr Trump did not directly address accusations that his own anti-immigrant and racially charged comments have contributed to a rise in race tensions.
"These sinister ideologies must be defeated," he said in remarks at the White House.
"Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul."
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On Saturday, a gunman killed 21 people at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, and several Mexican citizens were among those killed.
Just 13 hours later, another gunman in downtown Dayton, Ohio, killed nine people. Dozens also were wounded in the attacks.
Mr Trump, who has been accused of not doing enough to tackle extremist groups, said he was directing the Department of Justice to investigate domestic terrorism, and propose legislation to ensure that those who commit hate crimes and mass murders face the death penalty.
He also said the country needs to reform mental health laws to identify disturbed people as well as work with social media companies to detect possible mass shooters.
"We must make sure those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms and that if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process," Mr Trump said.
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Mr Trump had earlier called for "strong background checks" on gun buyers but in his comments at the White House he gave no details on what he would push for, and it was not the central part of his message.
"Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun," he said.
Mr Trump has previously called for background checks but then backed away, apparently reluctant to get into a fight with the powerful National Rifle Association.
In Texas, 26 people were wounded, and 27 in Ohio, where the shooter was killed in roughly 30 seconds by police who were patrolling nearby.
Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl told a news conference that the quick police response was "crucial", preventing the shooter from entering a bar where "there would have been ... catastrophic injury and loss of life".
He said the shooter wore a mask and a bullet-proof vest and was armed with an assault rifle fitted with a 100-round drum magazine.
Police named the gunman as a 24-year-old white man called Connor Betts and said his sister was among those killed. She had gone with him to the scene of the shootings.
Six of the nine people shot dead were black, but the police chief said Betts' motive was still unclear.
In Texas, police said the suspect surrendered on a footpath near the scene.
He was described in media reports as a 21-year-old white man named Patrick Crusius.
He was believed to have posted a manifesto online denouncing a "Hispanic invasion" of Texas. El Paso, on the border with Mexico, is majority Latino.
Seven of the 20 people killed in the El Paso shooting were Mexican, the country's foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said yesterday.
Mr Ebrard, who will travel to El Paso today, said Mexico was looking at legal action which could lead to extradition of the gunman.
"For Mexico, this individual is a terrorist," he said.
Police said the suspected shooter has been charged with murder offences that can carry the death penalty, and a federal official said investigators are treating the El Paso shooting as a case of domestic terrorism.
At the Walmart in El Paso, terrified shoppers cowered in aisles or ran out of the store as gunfire echoed.
Most of the victims were inside the shop but some were also in the car park outside, police said.
