Trump: 'Mental health' is the issue behind the Texas shooting, not guns

President Trump said Monday that better mental health — not gun control — is the key to the mass shooting that claimed at least 26 lives at a Texas church.

"I think mental health is the problem here," Trump said during a news conference in Tokyo, saying the shooter in Texas was a "deranged" man who should have received treatment. "This isn't a guns situation."

Trump, who received heavy political support from the National Rifle Association and other gun owners, has been an opponent of gun control proposals that have arisen after a string of mass shootings in the United States.

Trump also noted that a resident with a gun engaged the church assailant. "Fortunately," the president said, "somebody else had a gun that was shooting in the opposite direction."