White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders deflected questions on Monday about whether President Trump would pursue any changes to U.S. gun laws in the wake of the mass shooting Sunday in Las Vegas.
"Today is a day for consoling survivors and mourning those we lost," she said. "There's a time and place for a political debate, but now is the time to unite as a country."
"The only person with blood on their hands is the shooter, and this isn't the time for us to go after not any other individuals or organizations," she said. This was an apparent reference to the National Rifle Association, which has lobbied for a bill under consideration in Congress which would make it easier to buy a gun silencer.
Sanders also became visibly emotional as she described acts of heroism and compassion that were undertaken during the shooting, which killed at least 58 people and injured more than 500, making it the deadliest non-wartime shooting attack in modern U.S. history.
Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump called the shooting "an act of pure evil," and said he plans to visit Las Vegas on Wednesday to meet with victims' families and first responders.
Police have identified the shooter as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, a Nevada resident who later committed suicide in his hotel room, according to authorities.
Paddock opened fire at around 10 pm Sunday night, shooting tens of thousands of concert-goers from his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Authorities have yet to identify a motive for the shooting, but NBC News reported Monday that Paddock had recently engaged in multiple large gambling transactions.
WATCH: Trump says Las Vegas shoot an act of pure evil
