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When shots rang out last year at a high school in Parkland, Florida, leaving 17 people dead, President Donald Trump quickly turned his thoughts to creating more mental institutions. When back-to-back mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, jolted the nation earlier this month, Trump again spoke of "building new facilities" for the mentally ill as a way to reduce mass shootings. (Freking, 8/30)

Two days after gunmen killed more than 30 people in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Tex., Julie Learson rallied with 250 Connecticut residents on the steps of the state Capitol. But unlike the scores of adults and children who held signs demanding legislative action to stop mass shootings, Learson clutched a piece of cardboard that read, “White supremacy and toxic masculinity are terrorist ideologies, not mental illnesses.” (Lyons, 8/29)

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) said on Thursday that he sees a path to a deal with the White House on background checks legislation but cautioned it was too soon to say if they would be able to clinch an agreement. Murphy, in a statement and in a separate interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, said the White House remains at the table about legislation to expand the number of gun sales that would be subjected to a background check. The gun debate will be at the top of Congress's agenda once it returns next week. (Carney, 8/29)