Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley doesn't want the mass shooting in her community to become a story about Donald Trump

In the days following a mass shooting that devastated her city, Dayton, Ohio, Mayor Nan Whaley has focused her efforts on helping her community heal and said she didn't want to feed into a narrative of her versus President Donald Trump.

Trump this week has gone after Whaley on Twitter, but she's shifted the conversation back to the gun reforms she'd like to see enacted.

“I'm not running for president. I'm not trying to get any political points for me. I just want something done on gun issues,” Whaley told INSIDER on Thursday.

“My job as mayor is to bring the community together and to help our community grieve and get through this trauma,” Whaley said, later adding that she's not going to “pretend to understand the mind of Donald Trump.”

Dayton, Ohio, Mayor Nan Whaley said the country's focus should be on Dayton's shooting victims, not on President Donald Trump, in the coming days.

But Trump seemingly doesn't agree, instead using social media to take jabs at Whaley. Almost as soon as Trump left Dayton on Wednesday after visiting with victims of the shooting, he was spreading falsehoods about Whaley via Twitter.

This is in keeping with the president's pattern of reacting to a horrific event by redirecting much of the focus onto a battle between him and someone or something, rather than the issues at hand.

Following the deadly neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, it was Trump against the “fake-news” media.

After Hurricane Maria claimed thousands of lives in Puerto Rico in 2017, it was Trump against San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz. The president has continued with this narrative and his attacks on Cruz into 2019.

While other politicians, including 2020 Democrats, often try to one-up Trump after he attacks them on Twitter or elsewhere — Whaley is brushing it off. When the conversation turns to Trump, she shifts it back to gun control.

Although the Dayton mayor referred to Trump as “divisive,” her criticism of the president has been limited and at the periphery of her response to the mass shooting that has left her city reeling.

“I'm not running for president. I'm not trying to get any political points for me. I just want something done on gun issues, and that's what my community deserves. That's why we're talking about this, and that's what I'm focused on,” Whaley told INSIDER over the phone on Thursday.

“My job as mayor is to bring the community together, and to help our community grieve and get through this trauma,” Whaley added, saying that she's also fighting to ensure other American communities don't have to experience what Dayton is going through “in the future.”

'I'm not going to pretend to understand the mind of Donald Trump'

In tweets on Wednesday, Trump falsely accused Whaley of “misrepresenting” his trip to a Dayton hospital by painting it in a negative light, but, in fact, she'd said “the victims and the first responders were grateful that the President of the United States came to Dayton.” When asked about this discrepancy, the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIDER.

In a video that captured Whaley's initial reaction to Trump's tweets, Whaley appeared completely unfazed. “Oh well, you know, he lives in his world of Twitter,” she said in the clip.

Tweet Embed: //twitter.com/mims/statuses/1159197087176806406？ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw When the Mayor of Dayton first saw @realDonaldTrump tweet about her pic.twitter.com/Z8YdyeebXp

By Thursday morning, much of the conversation on social media zeroed in on a video Trump tweeted about his visits to Dayton and the other community still traumatized from a mass shooting over the weekend — El Paso, Texas. Trump was accused by local politicians and other critics of turning mass shootings into a photo op, as the video featured an intense musical score and scenes of him smiling and giving a thumbs-up in hospitals.

Read more: Trump shares campaign-ad-style video with footage of visits to mass-shooting victims in Dayton and El Paso

Whaley told INSIDER she hadn't seen the video as of midday Thursday and couldn't “really comment on any of that.”

Members of the press were barred from coming into the hospitals to cover Trump's visits, which Whaley characterized as “interesting” and “strange.”

“But I'm not going to pretend to understand the mind of Donald Trump,” Whaley added, making it clear she had nothing else to say on the subject.

'Mitch McConnell is bought by the gun lobbyists'

The mass shooting in Dayton, which occurred early on Sunday morning, left nine people dead and injured more than two dozen more. The gunman was promptly killed by police.

In the wake of the tragedy, and the mass shooting in El Paso, Whaley signaled to INSIDER she's still not especially optimistic about changes to gun laws at the federal level. But she does have hope for reform at the state level, including in Ohio.

At the federal level, Whaley said she'd be satisfied if the government passed legislation banning assault weapons, expanding background checks, or setting up something along the lines of a red-flag law, which allows for a judge to confiscate the weapons of someone if it is believed they pose a threat to themselves or others.

“I would be happy with all of those or even just one of those,” Whaley said. “For us in Dayton, we want some movement out of the federal government ... on gun control.”

Whaley said that other than GOP Rep. Michael Turner, whose congressional district in Ohio includes Dayton, she hasn't seen “much movement” on the federal level in terms of calling for gun reform. Turner endorsed a ban on military-style weapons after the shooting in Dayton, a move Whaley said she was “pleased” to see.

The Democratic-controlled House in February passed legislation that would expand background checks, which Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to take up.

“Mitch McConnell is bought by the gun lobbyists and gunmakers, and he doesn't really care that the majority of the American public think it's time for common-sense gun legislation,” Whaley said of the Kentucky senator.

Polling has consistently shown the vast majority of Americans support universal background checks. Trump, for his part, signaled in the wake of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton that he'd be open to pushing for extensive background checks, which prompted a warning from the National Rifle Association.

Trump this week also said there was not much of an “appetite” for an assault-weapons ban, but a Politico/Morning Consult poll released on Wednesday found a majority of American voters (70%), including a majority of Republicans (55%), support such a policy.

'I know Daytonians won't forget'

On Tuesday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine unveiled a slew of gun-control proposals, including a red-flag law and expanded background checks.

“We don't have really strong gun laws in Ohio,” Whaley said, signaling that she's encouraged by DeWine's proposals.

The Dayton mayor said the laws DeWine proposed “are not a step as big as I would take, but they're a step in the right direction.” DeWine's proposals do not include a ban on assault-style weapons or high-capacity magazines, for example, which Whaley supports. But she still characterized the proposals from the Republican governor as a major shift in the conversation about guns in her state.

Read more: Trump made himself the victim on a day meant to be about the victims of mass shootings

“Last year in the Ohio legislature, we were having a discussion about guns in day-care centers,” Whaley added. “So to have the conversation now about background checks, straw purchases, and red flags — that's a step I'm happy to see.”

“The governor is very clear that he wants to do something that can get through the state legislature — I respect that ... I'm just glad to see this moving in the right direction,” Whaley said. “The Dayton shooter got all of his guns legally and so this is completely preventable from a gun control stance.”

When asked if she was concerned that the rapidly changing news cycle might shift attention away from Dayton in the near future and cause the movement for new gun laws to lose momentum, Whaley said: “I know this, I know Daytonians won't forget.”