Trump defends NRA while backing some gun law changes
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday doubled down on arming school teachers while defending the National Rifle Association — even as he broke ranks with the powerful gun rights organization on a key gun ownership proposal.
Trump defended the NRA and its CEO, Wayne LaPierre, who have come under intense pressure from Parkland, Fla., students and others who blame them for blocking gun laws that could help prevent future school and other mass shootings.
Speaking to a more friendly group of local and state prosecutors and lawmakers at the White House, the president struck a more forceful tone Thursday, echoing many of the most critical lines given LaPierre at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The event was the second of his listening tour in the wake of last week’s shooting in Florida that left 17 students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School dead.
“We have to harden our schools, not soften them,” Trump said, repeating a phrase used by LaPierre earlier in the day about “hardening schools.” “A gun-free zone to a killer or somebody who wants to be a killer, that’s like going in for the ice cream. That’s like, ‘Here I am, take me.’”
Still, Trump reiterated support for tougher background checks, ending the sale of bump stocks and raising the minimum age of buyers for semi-automatic rifles to 21 — a measure the NRA explicitly rejected earlier this week.
The president dismissed questions that his support for raising the age requirement for buying weapons puts him at odds with the NRA.
“I really think the NRA wants to do what’s right,” he said. “I mean, they’re very close to me, I’m very close to them, they’re very, very great people. They love this country. They’re patriots.”
But across town, the NRA was giving next to no ground. The group’s leadership joined lock-step on school security improvements, but drew a red line on new restrictions on gun ownership.
LaPierre took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference and defiantly defended the Second Amendment against what he called “new European socialists” looking to seize control of Congress and the White House.
“Our American freedoms could be lost and our country will be changed forever,” he said. “And the first to go will be the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
But Trump said he’s been in frequent contact with the NRA, including with LaPierre, who he called a great patriot. He said LaPierre and the NRA are ready to work on changes, such as raising the age requirements on buying rifles.
The group that met with Trump at the White House included Republican Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Florida Department of Education Commissioner Pam Stewart and Parkland Mayor Christine Hunschofsky, who Trump thanked for her work helping the students.
Trump called accused Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz a coward and said he, as wells as those who attacked Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 and Columbine High School in 1999, would not have entered the school if he knew staff had offensive capabilities.
“They’re not going to walk into a school if 20 percent of the teachers have guns. It may be 10 percent, it may be 40 percent,” Trump said.