Contrary to the popular demand that the conversation be put front and center, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed on Monday afternoon that the Trump administration simply does not want to talk about gun control in the immediate wake of Sunday night's mass shooting in Las Vegas in which at least 58 people were killed.

At an afternoon press briefing, repeatedly pressed on the issue, Huckabee Sanders called it "premature" to have a debate about the politics of guns.

"There's a time and a place to debate, but now is the time to unite as a country," she said.

Sanders says it’s to early to have a “political debate” over guns without knowing all the facts on the shooting https://t.co/VE2Gov68RO — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 2, 2017

That message is diametrically opposite to what gun control advocates and some Democratic lawmakers were saying on Monday. "Tragedies like Las Vegas have happened too many times," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a tweet. "We need to have the conversation about how to stop gun violence. We need it NOW."

Author and activist Naomi Klein put the White House's position in the context of a broader pattern of dodging and denial that is well-worn in right-wing political circles:

Don't talk about guns after a massacre. Or climate change after storms. Or austerity after firetrap buildings burn. Talk when no one listens — Naomi Klein (@NaomiAKlein) October 2, 2017

Meanwhile, Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat who represents the state of Connecticut where the 2012 mass killing of schoolchildren in the town of Sandy Hook took place, called on Congress to "get off its ass and do something" on the issue of gun violence and mass shootings.

SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Never Miss a Beat. Get our best delivered to your inbox.







And though President Trump has repeatedly jumped to conclusions in the wake of attacks in which he perceived the assailant(s) as Muslim, Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday said the White House in this case was waiting for the "facts" to emerge before calling Sunday night's attack—the most deadly mass shooting ever to take place in U.S. history—an act of "domestic terrorism."

Watch:

Sarah Huckabee Sanders: It would be “premature” to call Las Vegas shooting domestic terrorism during investigation https://t.co/10dmx1Jtgl — NBC News (@NBCNews) October 2, 2017

Writing at Rolling Stone on Monday, journalist Tim Dickinson dismissed those who argue the immediate aftermath of the latest massacre is the wrong time to politicize guns or mass violence—and placed blame for that squarely at the feet of the nation's powerful gun industry lobby and the lawmakers who do their bidding.

"America's soft underbelly is vulnerable to terrorist attack because of the political power of the National Rifle Association," Dickinson wrote. "Full stop."

He continued: