WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump presented the nation’s highest award for public safety Monday to six Dayton police officers who responded swiftly to reports of gunfire last month in Dayton, confronted the shooter in under a minute and prevented more deaths.
“Nine people had already died. Another 27 were injured. But by standing up to him and doing it so quickly and responding so effectively, they saved so many lives. They put their lives in danger because they were standing between the shooter and innocent civilians,” U.s. Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) said in remarks on the Senate floor later in the day.
Trump also recognized five civilians who put themselves at risk after a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in August.
The twin shootings, hours apart, sparked renewed national discussion of gun control, a topic on Congress’ agenda as it returned to Washington on Monday.
Congressional Democrats pressed President Donald Trump on Monday to intervene with Senate Republicans and demand passage of a bipartisan bill to expand background checks for gun purchases.
U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in calling on Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow a vote on a House-passed bipartisan bill expanding universal background checks
“We want some Republicans to do the right thing here and (vote for) something that 90% of the American people say makes the most sense” to prevent gun violence, Whaley said.
Brown said that instead of recognizing the problem of gun violence in this country, Congressional Republicans and the President have been taking orders from the NRA, blaming mental illness instead of working to update laws.
You start with background checks, other things we need to do for common sense gun legislation. There’s no reason we should delay, we need to do something now,” Brown said.
The six police officers each received the Medal of Valor, established in 2001 as the nation’s highest public safety award. Nine people were killed and more than two dozen were wounded in the early morning attack Aug. 4 in the bustling Oregon entertainment district.