The president tweeted a behind-the-scenes video of his visit produced by the White House. No press were allowed in during Trump's hospital tour.

214 Democrats have signed a letter to Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell urging him to call the chamber back from its summer recess in order to pass bipartisan bills on background checks.

You can read the full letter here., external

McConnell has not directly responded to Democrats, but said in a statement on Monday: "Partisan theatrics and campaign-trail rhetoric will only take us farther away from the progress all Americans deserve."

Signs are practically everywhere in El Paso at the moment, with many either memorialising the victims of a mass shooting or condemning Donald Trump for his controversial visit to the Texas border city.

Protesters at a rally in El Paso to counter Trump's visit have begun chanting "send him back". The slogan is a reference to Trump supporters chanting "send them back" at one of his political rallies, in reference to four female congresswoman of colour.

White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham spoke briefly to reporters on Air Force One.

She said Trump visited patients in their rooms, victims and their families, law enforcement and first responders. Grisham noted there was no conversation about gun control.

She also said that Trump personally invited Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown and Mayor Nan Whaley to accompany him - she said it was "a very good, warm interaction" and that Trump "got along very well" with Whaley.

"It wasn’t about supportive or not supportive. I can tell you everybody received him very warmly.”

Grisham said that members of the press were not allowed on the visit because it was not "a photo opp".

Dan Scavino, a member of the Trump team, later shared official photos of the visit.

Dan Scavino, who has been working for Donald Trump since his presidential campaign, has hit out at Ohio's Democratic senator, Sherrod Brown.

Brown met Trump and travelled with him to visit victims in hospital.

In a tweet, Scavino accused Brown of lying about the hospital visit in some way but Brown had reportedly praised Trump's actions so it's unclear what exactly Scavino is unhappy about.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) is America's biggest gun lobby, with a large membership and a budget of millions to push for gun rights policies.

Today, the NRA tweeted: "It doesn't matter if you're black, white, rich, poor, gay, straight - you have a right to defend your life and the National Rifle Association is proud to represent you."

Read more about the NRA - and how it's going through a tough time

Here's what they've been saying in the wake of El Paso and Dayton.

Image source, Getty Images

Former vice-president and 2020 Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden blasted Trump for his rhetoric against migrants while speaking at a campaign event in Iowa.

Biden said Trump has "poured fuel on the fire" of extremists.

"He seems more concerned about losing their votes than beating back their hateful ideology," Biden says.

He adds: "Hatred isn't a mental health issue."

Biden says American presidents have stepped up in the past, citing Republicans Bush Sr ending his membership with the NRA and Bush Jr going to a mosque after 9/11, but Trump has not.

Trump responded via Twitter, calling Biden's speech "sooo boring".

Image source, Getty Images

Trump will arrive in El Paso with an outstanding bill of more than $500,000 (£415,000) owed to the city for his last visit in February.

The February trip, which was for his first political rally of 2019, came after a 35-day government shutdown and was held so he could argue his case for a wall on the US-Mexico border.

The bill is for police and public safety necessities and had a 21% late fee added to it in June.

In June, the Center for Public Integrity, external reported that Trump owes money to 10 cities for his rallies.

"Our resources are really strained right now," Alexsandra Annello, a member of the El Paso City Council, told the Texas Tribune, external.

"Our police and fire are exhausted, our health department had for three days straight been working with the reunification of families. As you see from the bill, these are the services required for a presidential visit.

"In addition to financial costs, our community and resources are already strained and do not need this extra burden," she said referring to Trump's visit today.

Image source, Getty Images

The editor of the El Paso Times, Timothy Archuleta, published an open letter to the president, external today.

"When you visit today, you will see El Paso in the agony of our mourning. You also will see El Paso at its finest," the letter begins.

The BBC's Tara McKelvey says of Archuleta's piece: "He described the city, a place where 80% of its residents have Hispanic roots, and where so many people donated blood for the victims of the mass shooting that there was more than could be used. He told readers about local heroes, people who tried to stop the gunman and saved others. And with his letter he welcomed the president to their home."

Image source, Getty Images

Locals in El Paso have been visiting a makeshift memorial in front of the Walmart where the shooting took place.

Meanwhile, protesters are gathering for a rally ahead of the president's arrival.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

The FBI says the investigation into the El Paso attack as an incident of domestic terrorism is continuing - and noted that such a designation does not mean the attack was not also a hate crime.

Beginning on 1 September, 10 new gun laws will take effect in Texas, making it easier to carry and keep guns in homes, churches, and public places.

The new measures were passed in the wake of the mass shootings at the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church in 2017 and the Santa Fe High School in 2018.

The aim of the laws is to reduce the amount of "gun-free zones", or places where gun owners are asked to leave their weapons behind.

None of the bills would have directly prevented the attack in El Paso. The gunman drove hundreds of miles from Dallas to the border city.

Image source, ROSE GANDARILLO

In the wake of a deadly shooting in his city, one 11-year-old boy has launched a social media campaign to be kind.

He wants people to carry out 22 random acts of kindness, one for each victim killed in Saturday's attack.

Read the full story here.

As he left the White House this morning, President Trump said he would take action to stop "all hate groups". He talked about white supremacists but also mentioned the left-wing, anti-facist movement antifa.

Earlier this year, the BBC brought together a member of a far-right group called the Proud Boys and an antifa activist who have clashed during several violent confrontations in Portland, Oregon.

Watch this episode of #CutThroughTheNoise to find out what happened when they talked face to face.

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown spoke to reporters after the president's visit.

Whaley said they reiterated the need for gun control to Trump. "Nine people died in Dayton because of a gun that shouldn't be legal, frankly," she said.

"Do I think we're going to see another mass shooting tomorrow or Friday? Probably, because Washington will not move."

Brown called on Republican senate leader Mitch McConnell to take up gun control legislation, but said he "has got to break his addiction to gun lobby money and he hasn't seemed to take a step in that direction".

Whaley also said it was good that the president chose not to visit the Oregon District as many business owners in the area did not want him there. She later said that the victims and first responders Trump visited in the hospital "were grateful that the President of the United States came to Dayton".

Image source, CBS

Adelia Johnson, who told US media she dated the gunman in Ohio, said she's "not shocked he did something horrific".

She told CBS that they dated from March to May.

She said because he studied psychology at university, she did not think it odd that he had such a fascination with violence.

"I didn't think he would go shoot strangers. Especially his sister," Johnson said.

"He was interested in what makes terrible people do terrible things," she said, adding that he showed her a video of a mass shooting on their first date.

Trump boarded Air Force One and is now en route to the border city of El Paso, Texas.

He is due to arrive in the next hour.

The predominantly Mexican community has been holding protests throughout the day, and many local officials have urged Trump not to come.

Trump has long criticised US immigration policy, and has used inflammatory language that was mirrored by the attacker to refer to an "invasion" of Hispanic immigrants.

Image source, Getty Images

Democratic 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden is campaigning in Iowa today, where he plans to hold a speech in an hour's time.

According to a transcript of his remarks as prepared for delivery, he plans to tell supporters that "we have a president who has aligned himself with the darkest forces in this nation".

"In both clear language and in code, this president has fanned the flames of white supremacy in this nation," he will say.

"How far is it from Trump's saying this 'is an invasion' to the shooter in El Paso declaring 'his attack is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas?' Not far at all."

"How far is it from the white supremacists and neo-Nazis in Charlottesville - Trump’s 'very fine people,' chanting 'you will not replace us' - to the shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh saying Jews 'were committing genocide to his people?' Not far at all."

Image source, Getty Images

In the wake of these mass shootings, Democratic lawmakers and even some Republicans, are calling for a national policy of universal background checks on gun buyers.

A bill passed by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in February - which called for universal background checks for all gun sales - has been languishing in the Senate, where Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to hold a debate on the legislation.

Right now, laws only require licensed firearms dealers to perform FBI background checks on buyers. Private buyers and sellers, as well as those that are gifted guns to family members, are exempt from any form of a check.

Gun control advocates say this is a dangerous loophole that allows those with violent histories to access weapons.

Read more about the House gun control bill.