Trump backs background checks, and reassures NRA
Texas, Ohio shootings prompt flurry of activity around gun law changes
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday he believes he has influence to rally Republicans around stronger federal background check laws as Congress and the White House work on a response to last weekend’s mass shootings in Texas and Ohio.
At the same time, Trump said he had assured the National Rifle Association that its views would be “fully represented and respected.” He said he was hopeful the NRA would not be an obstacle to strengthening gun laws.
Trump has promised to lead on tougher gun control measures before, including after the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting, but little has come of it. His comments in the wake of the twin massacres marked his most supportive words in favor of more stringent gun laws, though he left the details vague and it remained to be seen how much political capital Trump would throw behind marshaling Republicans on the issue.
He said Friday that he now is looking for “very meaningful background checks,” but is not considering a resurrection of an assault weapons ban. He said he also believes lawmakers will support “red flag” laws that allow guns to be removed from those who may be a danger to themselves and others.
“I see a better feeling right now toward getting something meaningful done,” Trump told reporters when asked why the political environment was different now.
“I have a greater influence now over the Senate and the House,” he said at the White House.
Democrats and others have been skeptical of Trump’s commitment to genuine gun control, judging from past experience. But he said he was behind it.
“The Republicans are going to be great and lead the charge along with the Democrats,” he declared, saying he’d spoken with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who he said was “totally onboard.”
But McConnell, thus far, has committed only to a discussion of the issue. Republicans have long opposed expanding background checks — a bill passed by the Democratic-led House is stalled in McConnell’s Senate — but they face new pressure after the shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted Friday that McConnell must bring up the House-passed legislation, which Trump previously threatened to veto. “To get anything meaningful done to address gun violence, we need his commitment to hold a Senate vote on the House-passed background checks legislation,” Schumer said.
As for the NRA, which has contributed millions to help Trump and other Republicans, the gun lobby’s chief executive, Wayne LaPierre, said this week that some federal gun control proposals “would make millions of lawabiding Americans less safe, and less able to defend themselves and their loved ones.”
But Trump said he’d spoken with LaPierre this week and “I think in the end, Wayne and the NRA will either be there or either be a little more neutral.”
“Frankly, I really think they’re going to get there, also,” he added.
On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader McConnell said he now wants background checks and other action, setting up a potentially pivotal moment when lawmakers return in the fall.
The Republican leader won’t call senators back to work early, but he told a Kentucky radio station that the president is “anxious to get an outcome and so am I.”
“What we can’t do is fail to pass something,” McConnell said.