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Two men were killed in a mass shooting at a university in Florida allegedly carried out by the son of a local deputy sheriff with her old service weapon, police in the southeastern US state said Thursday.Five people were wounded when the gunman — identified as Phoenix Ikner — rampaged through Florida State University, shooting at students, before he was shot by local law enforcement.A sixth person was hurt trying to run away from the shooting, Chief Lawrence Revell of the Tallahassee Police Department said in a statement.The campus was locked down as gunfire erupted, with students ordered to shelter in place as first responders swarmed the site moments after the lunchtime shootings.Ikner, 20, has been hospitalized with “serious but non-life-threatening injuries,” Revell added.Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil told reporters Ikner was a student at the university and the son of a an “exceptional” 18-year member of his staff.”Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene.He added that the suspect was part of Sheriff’s Office training programs, meaning “it’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.”Bystander footage aired by CNN appeared to show a young man walking on a lawn and shooting at people who were trying to get away.Witnesses spoke of chaos as people began running through the sprawling campus as shots rang out near the student union.”Everyone just started running out of the student union,” a witness named Wayne told local news station WCTV.”About a minute later, we heard about eight to 10 gunshots.”The witness said he saw one man who appeared to have been shot in the midsection.”The whole entire thing was just surreal. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”Everything was really quiet, then all chaotic.”- ‘Make them take time’ -The two people who died were “adult males” who were not students, police said.The university, a public institution with more than 40,000 students, cancelled all classes and told students who did not live on campus to leave.FSU President Richard McCullough said the university was working to support those affected by the attack.”This is a tragic day for Florida State University,” he said.”We’re absolutely heartbroken by the violence that occurred on our campus earlier today.”Student Sam Swartz told the Tallahassee Democrat he had been in the basement of the student union when shooting started. “Everyone started freaking out,” Swartz said, adding he had heard around 10 shots.A group of eight people huddled in a hallway and barricaded themselves with trash cans and plywood.”I remember learning to do the best you can to make them take time,” Swartz said, adding that mass shooters are “just trying to get as many people” as they can.Footage on social media showed a stream of young adults walking through corridors with their hands in the air as they evacuated the building.Mass shootings are common in the United States, where a constitutional right to bear arms trumps demands for stricter rules.That is despite widespread public support for tighter control on firearms, including restricting the sale of high-capacity clips and limiting the availability of automatic weapons of war.President Donald Trump called the shooting “a shame, a horrible thing,” but insisted that Americans should retain unfettered access to guns.”I’m a big advocate of the Second Amendment. I have been from the beginning. I protected it,” he said, referring to the part of the US Constitution gun advocates say protects firearm ownership.”These things are terrible, but the gun doesn’t do the shooting — the people do.”A tally by the non-profit Gun Violence Archive shows there have been at least 81 mass shootings — which it defines as four or more people shot — in the United States so far this year.

American Senator Chris Van Hollen said Thursday he had met with a Salvadoran man wrongfully deported to his home country by the Trump administration, in a case that has sparked outrage in the United States.Van Hollen had earlier said he had been denied access to the prison where Washington has paid President Nayib Bukele millions to lock up nearly 300 migrants it says are criminals and gang members — including 29-year-old Kilmar Abrego Garcia.”I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance,” Van Hollen later posted on X with a photo of him sitting at what appeared to be a restaurant table with Abrego Garcia.The dour-faced deportee is shown wearing a short-sleeved check shirt and a baseball cap.Van Hollen added that he would offer “a full update upon my return” to the United States.Abrego Garcia was detained in Maryland last month and expelled to El Salvador along with 238 Venezuelans and 22 fellow Salvadorans who were deported shortly after President Donald Trump invoked a rarely-used wartime authority. Trump administration officials have claimed he is an illegal migrant, a gang member and involved in human trafficking, without providing evidence. Abrego Garcia had enjoyed a protected status in the United States, precluding his deportation to El Salvador for his own safety. A federal judge has since ordered he be returned, later backed up by the Supreme Court.But the administration — despite admitting an “administrative error” in his deportation — contends he is now solely in Salvadoran custody. – ‘Staying in El Salvador’ -Bukele, who met Trump in Washington on Monday, said he does not have the power to send the man back.The Salvadoran leader posted to X late Thursday that Abrego Garcia was “sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador.”The deportee in fact appeared to have a cup of coffee and glass of water on the table in front of him.”Now that he’s been confirmed healthy, he gets the honor of staying in El Salvador’s custody,” Bukele added in another post.Van Hollen, on the second day of his trip to El Salvador, had earlier tried to make his way to the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) outside the capital San Salvador to see Abrego Garcia. The car he was traveling in was stopped by soldiers, he said, about three kilometers (1.8 miles) from the complex holding thousands of Salvadoran gangsters, and now also hundreds of migrants expelled from the United States. “We were told by the soldiers that they had been ordered not to allow us to proceed,” the senator later told reporters. – Cots without mattresses -He said the goal had been to check on the health and well-being of Abrego Garcia, who had been “illegally abducted” and was now the subject of “illegal detention” in the same prison built to hold members of gangs who had previously threatened his family.On Wednesday, Salvadoran Vice President Felix Ulloa had denied Van Hollen permission to see the prisoner or even talk to him by telephone. Asked why Abrego Garcia was being held at all, Ulloa told him “that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador, to keep him at CECOT,” the senator recounted.Bukele had built the CECOT to hold gang members rounded up in an iron-fisted anti-crime drive welcomed by most Salvadorans but widely denounced for violating human rights. CECOT inmates are confined to their cells for all but 30 minutes a day, denied visits, forced to sleep on stainless steel cots without mattresses, and subsist on a diet of mostly beans and pasta. 

As the full moon rose, conductor Gustavo Dudamel’s signature theatrics were projected with a front-facing view to a spellbound audience, his baton whipping his orchestra into Richard Wagner’s legendary “Ride of The Valkyries.”It was perhaps an unlikely spectacle at Coachella, but one that generated a huge, enthusiastic crowd — and was befitting of a maestro who has become a bona fide celebrity.”WERK!” shouted one young audience member at Dudamel, as he and the Los Angeles Philharmonic began what was seen as one of the festival’s most memorable performances.Under Dudamel’s direction for the past 17 years, the LA Phil has cultivated an air of cool, fostering a relationship with pop and celebrity especially during the ensemble’s summer series at the Hollywood Bowl.So it was only natural that the 44-year-old take his act to California’s Coachella, one of the world’s highest-profile music festivals that in recent years has gained a reputation for buzzy surprises and eclectic line-ups.The orchestra delivered, launching into a mesmerizing set that included classics like Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, film themes like John Williams’ “Imperial March” from “Star Wars,” and a genre-spanning array of guests including country star Maren Morris, Icelandic jazz-pop singer Laufey, LA’s own Becky G and EDM DJ Zedd.The grand finale saw Dudamel’s baton conjure bars from one LL Cool J, a genre-blending pas de deux that mirrored a rap battle.”This place represents a culture,” Dudamel said of the festival in a backstage interview with AFP, ahead of his and the Phil’s first performance, which they will reprise on Saturday during Coachella’s final weekend. “This is what I believe is the mission of art, this identity,” he explained. “The identity of a new generation, hungry for beauty.”- ‘Catharsis’ -Over the years, some observers have marveled over — or criticized — Dudamel’s ties with Hollywood and his efforts to unite the classical world with music of the Hot 100 variety.But for the conductor — whose talent was shaped by Venezuela’s illustrious “El Sistema” musical education program — working across genre is “the most natural thing,” he said. In his youth, “my father had a salsa band, and I grew up listening to that and going to the orchestra, and it was always very natural to just enjoy music — whatever it was, a bolero, a rock band,” Dudamel recalled.”There are different styles of music, but music is one.”Johanna Rees, the vice president of presentations at the LA Phil, one of the most prestigious orchestras in the United States, says cross-genre collaborations are in part about drawing in fresh audience members.”It could be considered an entry point,” she said, “exposing the orchestra to these younger, newer audiences so they can come back and check out more things and discover orchestral concerts on their own.”A lot of audience members at Coachella, she predicted, were “seeing an orchestra for the very first time.””It’s quite awesome, in the most literal sense of that word, to see how everybody can come together and make this music completely without the genre.”Some in the classical music world have balked at this notion, considering it a dilution, or cheapening, of the art form.But such criticism misses the expansive possibilities ingrained in the process of collaboration, Rees said: “We’re not creating orchestral wallpaper behind a band.””It’s hearing the music in a different way. It’s not dumbing it down,” she added. “It’s just making it another version of itself.”The prime sunset slot at Coachella serves as a capstone ushering in Dudamel’s final year of his nearly two-decade run in Los Angeles — the product of “years of dreaming, and breaking walls, and connecting more not only with styles of music but with different people’s identities,” he said.It’s an ethos the maestro aims to bring to the eminent New York Philharmonic when he officially assumes his post as that company’s next director in the 2026-27 season.And it’s vital, he said, in a moment of boiling political turmoil.”We need these spaces of catharsis,” he said, to “connect to the power of a tool of humanity that is music.”

Donald Trump and Giorgia Meloni hit an optimistic note about a possible US-EU tariffs deal Thursday as the far-right Italian prime minister mounted a charm offensive at the White House.Casting herself as the only European who can de-escalate Trump’s trade war, Meloni highlighted their conservative common ground and said she wanted to “make the West great again.””There will be a trade deal, 100 percent,” Trump said during her visit. Meloni said she was “sure” they could reach a deal.The two leaders struck a warm tone during a working lunch and a meeting in the Oval Office, with Trump hailing the 48-year-old Italian premier as “fantastic.”Meloni is the first leader from Europe to visit the Republican since he slapped 20 percent tariffs on EU exports, which he has since suspended for 90 days.The Italian leader said Trump had accepted an invitation to visit Rome in the “near future” and that he might also meet European leaders there.”Even if we have some problems between the two shores of the Atlantic, it is the time that we try to sit down and find solutions,” she said.Meloni highlighted their shared views on immigration and “woke” ideology and added: “The goal for me is to make the West great again, and I think we can do it together.” – ‘Get smart’ -But while Trump expressed confidence about an eventual deal with the 27-nation bloc he accuses of trying to “screw” the United States, he said he was in “no rush.””Everybody wants to make a deal — and if they don’t want to make a deal, we’ll make the deal for them,” Trump added.Trump also returned to his administration’s familiar criticisms of Europe, saying it needed to “get smart” on immigration and boost defense spending on NATO.The US leader said separately that superpower rival China had “reached out” about a possible deal to end the bitter trade war between the world’s biggest economies.Trump has slapped eye-watering 145 percent tariffs on Chinese goods after it retaliated to his worldwide “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement on April 2.”I think we’re going to make a very good deal with China,” he added.Russia’s war in Ukraine meanwhile remained a touchy subject between the US and Italian leaders.Meloni has been a staunch ally of Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia’s invasion of the country in 2022, most recently calling Moscow’s Palm Sunday attack on the city of Sumy “horrible and vile.” Trump however has stunned allies with a pivot toward Moscow and repeated attacks on Zelensky, whom he berated in an Oval Office meeting in February.The US leader said with Meloni beside him that “I don’t hold Zelensky responsible but I’m not exactly thrilled with the fact that that war started,” adding that he was “not a big fan” of the Ukrainian.- Uncertainty -Meloni had earlier acknowledged the uncertainty weighing on her trip as Europe reels from repeated blows from a country that has been the continent’s defender for decades.”I am aware of what I represent and I am aware of what I am defending,” Meloni said Tuesday.Italian newspapers reported that one of the goals of Meloni’s visit was to pave the way for a meeting between Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.Meloni’s decision to personally intercede with Trump has caused some disquiet among EU allies, who are concerned that her visit could undermine bloc unity.”If we start having bilateral discussions, obviously it will break the current dynamic,” France’s Industry Minister Marc Ferracci warned last week. A European Commission spokeswoman said that while the EU alone could negotiate trade agreements, Meloni’s “outreach is very welcome” and was coordinated with Brussels.Following Thursday’s meeting with Trump, Meloni will fly back to Rome on Friday in time to host US Vice President JD Vance, with whom she has a meeting planned.Trump’s threatened tariffs could have a major impact on Italy, the world’s fourth-largest exporter, which sends around 10 percent of its exports to the United States.

The first researchers fleeing US spending cuts imposed by President Donald Trump will start work at a French university in June, officials said Thursday.Aix Marseille University said its “Safe Place for Science” scheme received a flood of applicants after announcing in March it would open its doors to US scientists threatened by cuts.Of 298 applications, 242 were deemed eligible and “are being studied” for  some 20 available posts, the university said in a statement. It added that 135 of the applicants were US citizens, and 45 were dual citizens.University president Eric Berton said he wanted to see a new status of “refugee scientist” be created, and for more US researchers to be welcomed in France and Europe.A bill establishing such a status was presented in the French parliament on Monday by former president Francois Hollande, now a deputy.Aix Marseille University has previously brought in 25 scientists from Ukraine, Yemen, Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories under another programme for researchers under threat.The university has set aside a budget so that each researcher taken in receives between 600,000 and 800,000 euros ($680,00-$910,000) over three years to continue their work.It said the applicants from a variety of US institutions, including Johns Hopkins, NASA, Yale, Stanford, Columbia and the University of Pennsylvania. A selection panel will meet next Wednesday, followed by remote interviews before the first scientists arrive in early June.

Netflix on Thursday reported quarterly earnings slightly better than analysts expected, saying it is staying focused on what it can control as the overall economy is roiled by US President Donald Trump’s trade war.The streaming television service declared itself “off to a good start in 2025″ with a profit of $2.9 billion on revenue of $10.5 billion in the first quarter of the year. Revenue grew thanks to higher subscription and ad earnings, along with the timing of some expenses, according to Netflix.Shares in the Silicon Valley-based company were up nearly three percent in after-market trades.”The will-they-or-won’t-they tariff situation is destruction to many industries and will make entertainment more expensive to produce,” said Emarketer senior analyst Ross Benes.”But Netflix is poised to withstand the strain better than most of its competitors, at least initially, due to its low reliance on ad revenues and its favorable cancellation rates compared to its peers.”Netflix is paying close attention to consumer sentiment and the direction of the broader economy, co-chief executive Greg Peters told financial analysts on an earnings call.”We remain focused on the things that we can control, and improving the value of Netflix is the big one,” co-chief executive Ted Sarandos added.”Historically, in tougher economies, home entertainment value is really important to consumer households.”Netflix does most of its spending on content in the United States, but produces original shows or films in some 50 countries, according to Sarandos.- Live programming and games -Netflix early this year increased prices in Argentina, Canada, Portugal and the United States.In a bid to boost sputtering growth, the company launched an ad-subsidized offering in late 2023 around the same time as a crackdown on sharing passwords.Netflix has been steadily improving its ad platform as viewers continue to turn away from traditional television to streaming shows on demand.”We’re executing on our 2025 priorities: improving our series and film offering and growing our ads business; further developing newer initiatives like live programming and games; and sustaining healthy revenue and profit growth,” Netflix said in a letter to shareholders.Netflix forecast revenue growth of 15 percent in the current quarter, crediting its lineup of shows and films along with improvements to its ad platform.”We remain optimistic about our 2025 slate with a lineup that includes returning favorites, series finales, new discoveries and unexpected surprises designed to thrill our members,” Netflix told shareholders.Netflix touted hits including its “Adolescence” series that has logged some 124 million views, and the Spanish-language film “Counterattack” from Mexico.Netflix said in February it would spend $1 billion over four years producing content in Mexico, in a boost to that government’s efforts to attract investment in the face of US tariff threats.Investors view Netflix as a rare haven in a stock market vexed by Trump’s stop-start tariff plans targeting dozens of trade partners.This quarter marks a shift by Netflix to stop reporting subscriber numbers along with its earnings figures.The company, considered by analysts as the leading video streaming service, finished out last year with more than 300 million subscribers.”Netflix is part of a broader industry shift away from focusing on how many new viewers are obtained to focusing on how much money viewers are bringing in,” analyst Benes said.

The US Supreme Court announced Thursday it would hear arguments next month on President Donald Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship — a principle enshrined in the Constitution for over 150 years.The Trump administration had filed an emergency application asking the justices to lift or limit lower court rulings that paused an executive order he signed on his first day in office.Under that order, which was due to take effect February 19, children born to parents in the United States illegally or on temporary visas would not automatically become US citizens, radically altering the interpretation of the Constitution’s 14th Amendment.Offering no commentary on the case, the court said it would hear oral arguments on May 15, while leaving the halts in place.When asked about the development Thursday, Trump said he was “so happy.””I think the case has been so misunderstood — that case, birthright citizenship, is about slavery,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.The 14th Amendment was one of several amendments enacted in the wake of the Civil War to guarantee rights to formerly enslaved people, and says, in part: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”Trump’s order was premised on the idea that anyone in the United States illegally, or on a visa, was not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the country, and therefore excluded from this category.The Supreme Court, in a landmark 1898 case, previously rejected such a narrow definition.District Judge John Coughenour, who heard one of the cases challenging the action in Washington state, described the executive order as “blatantly unconstitutional.””I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is,” said Coughenour, who was appointed by a Republican president, Ronald Reagan.The birthright citizenship issue will be just one at play in the May 15 hearing, as the justices have technically been asked in the case to limit nationwide injunctions against Trump’s policies.Like the halt on his birthright citizenship order, many of his other actions have been blocked by lower courts as they work their way through the legal system.The Trump administration argues that lower courts should be limited in applying halts to policy on a national scale, saying they “gravely encroach on the President’s executive power.””This situation is intolerable,” the Trump administration wrote in its emergency request, noting that the number of such injunctions have soared under his presidency.The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority, though it is unclear if the case will break down along ideological lines.The issue has become a rallying cry for Trump and his Republican allies, who accuse the judiciary of stymying his agenda against the will of voters.Democratic opponents however point to the onslaught of actions by the Trump administration in its rampaging first few months.The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill last week to limit judges’ power to issue nationwide injunctions, though the text likely has no chance of passing the Senate.

Aviation startup Archer unveiled Thursday an air taxi venture with United Airlines that it says will one day allow New York city travelers to reach area airports in 15 minutes or less.Archer brought a prototype version of its Midnight aircraft to the Big Apple Thursday to mark the announcement.Exactly when the service will be available to New Yorkers will be determined by the US Federal Aviation Administration, which still must certify the electrically powered vehicle.”I don’t think anybody is excited to go sit in a car for 90 minutes to travel 15 miles,” Archer Chief Executive Adam Goldstein said of New York’s notorious road traffic. The aircraft is “almost like a time machine,” he said, enabling travel “from Manhattan to the airports in five to 10 minutes, versus the typical 90-minute time to drive.”But Archer still faces a number of hurdles to bring this vision to reality.In parallel with the FAA certification process, the company is pursuing approvals in the United Arab Emirates, where Archer is targeting a commercial launch in the fourth quarter of 2025.The Midnight, which is outfitted with 12 engines and 12 propellers, can hold a pilot and up to four passengers, plus luggage. Goldstein believes the rides can one day be much more affordable than today, when people might travel in a helicopter once in their lifetime.  He is eyeing a gradual expansion, with a relatively small number of vehicles in service in 2025 and 2026, ramping up later in the decade. The company recently completed a manufacturing facility in Georgia. Helicopters could be a “mass use product” if they “were much more affordable and if they had very high safety standards,” said Goldstein.Earlier this month a New York tour helicopter malfunctioned and plunged into the Hudson River, killing the pilot and five people from the same family inside.Goldstein is bullish that artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge software can allow growth of an urban air taxi transport without safety problems.

Republicans in the US Congress announced an investigation into Harvard University on Thursday, accusing it of flouting civil rights law in an escalation of President Donald Trump’s attacks on elite institutions.The lawmakers wrote to the world-renowned education and research establishment demanding documents on its hiring practices, diversity programs and last year’s pro-Palestinian campus protests.The letter — signed by House Oversight Committee chair James Comer and House leadership chair Elise Stefanik — came with Trump seeking unprecedented levels of control over the country’s oldest and wealthiest university.Comer and Stefanik castigated Harvard President Alan Garber for rejecting demands for supervision by the White House, which has canceled $2.2 billion in funding and threatened further reprisals.”Harvard is apparently so unable or unwilling to prevent unlawful discrimination that the institution, at your direction, is refusing to enter into a reasonable settlement agreement proposed by federal officials intended to put Harvard back in compliance with the law,” they told Garber. “No matter how entitled your behavior, no institution is entitled to violate the law.”Trump — furious at Harvard for rejecting oversight of its admissions, hiring practices and political slant — told reporters the university’s conduct had been “horrific.”The president, who is in charge of every aspect of the federal government, said he was “not involved” in its fight with Harvard but had “read about it.” “I think what they did was a disgrace,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “They’re obviously anti-Semitic and all of a sudden, they’re starting to behave.”Harvard is just the latest in a series of top universities and other institutions in the administration’s crosshairs.But while New York’s Columbia University bowed to less far-ranging demands, Harvard flatly rejected the pressure, saying it would not “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights.”Trump said Harvard should lose its government research contracts and tax-exempt status, while administration officials threatened to ban the school from admitting foreigners, who make up more than a quarter of the student body.Trump has also targeted Brown, Cornell, Northwestern, Pennsylvania and Princeton universities, threatening each with freezes of between $175 million and $1 billion, according to US media.Republicans have said their campaign against universities is a response to what they call rampant anti-Semitism, following divisive protests against Israel’s war in Gaza that swept campuses last year.Columbia — an epicenter of the activism — agreed last month to oversight of its Middle Eastern studies department after being threatened with a loss of $400 million in federal funds.Harvard staff and students rallied against the Trump administration in a campus protest Thursday aimed at encouraging university leadership to hold the line, research fellow Avi Steinberg told AFP. “They actually want Harvard to make good on its promises to its students and its faculty to protect every single student on campus, to protect the faculty and especially faculty free speech,” he said.

A mass shooting allegedly carried out by the son of a local deputy sheriff with her old service weapon left two people dead at a university in Florida, police in the southeastern US state said Thursday.Five people were hospitalized when the gunman — identified as Phoenix Ikner — rampaged through Florida State University, shooting at students, before he was shot and injured by local law enforcement.The campus was locked down as gunfire erupted, with students ordered to shelter in place as first responders swarmed the site moments after the lunchtime shootings.Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil told reporters Ikner, 20, was a student at the university and the son of a an “exceptional” 18-year member of his staff.”Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons, and that was one of the weapons that was found at the scene.He added that the suspect was part of Sheriff’s Office training programs, meaning “it’s not a surprise to us that he had access to weapons.”Ikner was taken to hospital after being shot. His condition was not immediately known.Bystander footage aired by CNN appeared to show a young man walking on a lawn and shooting at people who were trying to get away.Witnesses spoke of chaos as people began running through the sprawling campus as shots rang out near the student union.”Everyone just started running out of the student union,” a witness named Wayne told local news station WCTV.”About a minute later, we heard about eight to 10 gunshots.”The eyewitness said he saw one man who appeared to have been shot in the midsection.”The whole entire thing was just surreal. I just couldn’t believe what I was seeing.”Everything was really quiet, than all chaotic.”- ‘Make them take time’ -The two people who died were not students, police said, but refused to give further details.The university, a public institution with more than 40,000 students, cancelled all classes and told students who did not live on campus to leave.FSU President Richard McCullough said the university was working to support those affected by the attack.”This is a tragic day for Florida State University,” he said.”We’re absolutely heartbroken by the violence that occurred on our campus earlier today.”Student Sam Swartz told the Tallahassee Democrat he had been in the basement of the student union when shooting started. “Everyone started freaking out,” Swartz said, adding he had heard around 10 shots.A group of eight people huddled in a hallway and barricaded themselves with trash cans and plywood.”I remember learning to do the best you can to make them take time,” Swartz said, adding that mass shooters are “just trying to get as many people” as they can.Footage on social media showed a stream of young adults walking through corridors with their hands in the air as they evacuated the building.Mass shootings are common in the United States, where a constitutional right to bear arms trumps demands for stricter rules.That is despite widespread public support for tighter control on firearms, including restricting the sale of high-capacity clips and limiting the availability of automatic weapons of war.President Donald Trump called the shooting “a shame, a horrible thing,” but insisted that Americans should retain unfettered access to guns.”I’m a big advocate of the Second Amendment. I have been from the beginning. I protected it,” he said, referring to the part of the US Constitution gun advocates say protects firearm ownership.”These things are terrible, but the gun doesn’t do the shooting — the people do.”A tally by the non-profit Gun Violence Archive shows there have been at least 81 mass shootings — which it defines as four or more people shot — in the United States so far this year.