White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney cautioned against focusing too heavily on politics "too soon" after a gunman on Friday killed 12 people in a government building in Virginia Beach.
"We have too many of these shootings, and every time the first thing we talk about is politics," Mulvaney said on NBC's "Meet the Press.
""The mourning period hasn't even stopped yet, let alone the healing process," he added. "So, let's not get too deep into politics too soon. Let's think about the families."
Police Chief James Cervera said on ABC on Sunday the shooter, who was killed during a firefight with police, was a municipal employee who worked in the building and had purchased the firearms legally.
Mulvaney on Sunday said there are things federal government can do to address gun violence and pointed to moves the Trump administration has already made, including banning bump stocks and offering legislation on background checks.
"But we're never going to protect everybody against everybody who is deranged and insane," he said. "You're never going to make everything perfectly safe, but we are doing a lot better on enforcement."
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said Sunday the investigation into Friday's shooting is proceeding with the help of the FBI and ATF.
"We want to do the best we can to support communities to get out in front of these kind of issues, to identify anything we can see to prevent this kind of violence up front," he said on CNN.
When asked by CNN host Jake Tapper whether the Department of Homeland Security should look at gun violence differently than it does now, McAleenan said the DHS is "focused on the violence, regardless of the ideology or motivation and regardless of the means to carry it out.
"Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine