Donald Trump has blamed America's latest mass shootings on video games, mental illness and social media, after 31 people died in attacks in Texas and Ohio over the weekend.

Mr Trump announced plans to try to deal with the problem, including working with social media companies to detect "mass shooters" before they attack.

The president again stopped short of calling for gun reform and instead focused on mental health support, saying: "Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger - not the gun".

It came as hospital officials said two more people had died after the supermarket shooting in El Paso, Texas, taking the number to 22.

:: Who were the victims of the El Paso attack?


Image: The suspect in the El Paso supermarket massacre wore ear protectors

Mr Trump called for new laws that better identify "mentally disturbed individuals", adding that those people should "not only get treatment, but when necessary, involuntary confinement".

He called the attacks in Texas and Ohio "barbaric", saying they were "crimes against all humanity".

"We are sickened by this monstrous evil, the cruelty, the hatred, the malice, the bloodshed and the terror," added the president.

Mr Trump also called for the US to "condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy".

He criticised the role of "gruesome video games", which he said "celebrate violence" and were "too easy" for young people to get a hold of.

:: Trump talks tough - but still does not think guns are the issue

The president said he had ordered the justice department to work with local and national law enforcement, and also social media companies, to "develop tools that can detect mass shooters before they strike".

It is believed the Texas gunman posted a "manifesto" online before carrying out the attack in a Walmart supermarket in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday morning.

Just 13 hours later, the Ohio shooting claimed nine lives - including the gunman's sister - when a 24-year-old man opened fire in a popular entertainment district in Dayton.

He was shot dead by police outside a bar, while the Texas suspect was arrested.

Crowd runs for cover as Ohio gunman approaches

Mr Trump also called for people that "posed a grave risk to public safety" do not get access to firearms through "due process", but did not expand any further.

The number of mass shootings this year is 251, according to a widely quoted definition that categorises a mass shooting as an incident where four people are shot (either wounded or killed).

The US Congress defines a mass shooting differently - as a single incident where three or more people are murdered.

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President Trump said he had asked for new laws so that "those who commit hate crimes and mass murders face the death penalty and that this capital punishment be delivered quickly, decisively, and without years of needless delay".

Last month, Mr Trump reinstated the federal death penalty for the first time since 2003.

The president tweeted on Monday morning to ask Democrats and Republicans to work together towards a way to stop gun violence.

He reiterated his request in his speech, and said the parties have proven they can work together on the issue, referencing the measures put in place after the Parkland shooting in 2018.

He added: " I am open and ready to listen and discuss all ideas that will actually work and make a very big difference."

At the end of the speech Mr Trump confused people by saying, "May god bless the memory of those who perished in Toledo and may god protect them," rather than in Dayton, where the Ohio attack actually took place.