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President Trump announced on Thursday that he would visit Parkland, Fla., where a gunman killed 17 people this week in the deadliest school shooting in years, and would work with state and local leaders “to help secure our schools, and tackle the difficult issue of mental health. ”The president tweeted his condolences to the families of the victims in the hours after the shooting on Wednesday, and as images of terrified students sprinting frantically away from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School dominated the news, Mr. Trump’s aides urged him to make a public statement. But he opted not to say anything more until Thursday, when he delivered a subdued seven-minute speech at the White House. (Rogers, 2/15)

Not always a natural in the role of national comforter, Trump spoke deliberately, at one point directly addressing children who may feel "lost, alone, confused or even scared." "I want you to know that you are never alone and you never will be," Trump said. "You have people who care about you, who love you, and who will do anything at all to protect you." (Lucey, 2/15)

He ignored a question about gun control after his statement, and said nothing about guns or gun laws in his address. He said that the U.S. must “tackle the difficult issue of mental health,” but offered no specifics. “It is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we are making a difference. We must actually make that difference,” he said. (Epstein, 2/15)

Advocates cautioned Thursday against making assumptions about the links between mental health issues and violence after President Donald Trump said the suspect in a mass shooting at a Florida high school was "mentally disturbed." “So many signs that the Florida shooter was mentally disturbed, even expelled from school for bad and erratic behavior,” Trump tweeted Thursday. In televised remarks on the shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 17 people, he said his administration was tackling "the difficult issue of mental health." (Alexander, 2/15)

Gov. Rick Scott of Florida said on Thursday that he would call on state lawmakers and law enforcement authorities to keep firearms away from the mentally ill. “How do we make sure that individuals with mental illness do not touch a gun?” the Republican governor said at a news conference, taking an unusually strong stance on a gun control issue. Scott Israel, the Broward County, Fla., sheriff, called on lawmakers in Washington and Tallahassee to expand police powers by allowing officers to detain people for a mental health evaluation on the basis of worrisome social media posts or “graphic threats.” (Mueller, 2/15)

President Donald Trump is calling for a focus on mental health and school safety in response to shootings like the one that took 17 lives in Florida, but his budget would cut funding in both areas. Trump's latest budget would slash the major source of public funds for mental health treatment, the Medicaid program serving more than 70 million low-income and disabled people. The budget also calls for a 36 percent cut to an Education Department grant program that supports safer schools, reducing it by $25 million from the current level of $67.5 million. (Alonso-Zaldivar and Danilova, 2/16)

Two days before the school shooting in Florida that left 17 dead, the Trump administration proposed cutting millions in federal education programs meant to help prevent crime in schools and assist them in recovery from tragedies. Funds targeted for reduction or elimination in the Trump administration's fiscal 2019 request have helped pay for counselors in schools and violence prevention programs. (Hefling, 2/15)