Trump abandons any fix on guns
WASHINGTON — Not two weeks ago, President Trump wagged his finger at a Republican senator and scolded him for being “afraid of the NRA,” declaring that he would stand up to the powerful gun lobby and finally get results on quelling gun violence following last month’s Florida school shooting.
On Monday, Trump struck a very different tone as he backpedaled from his earlier demands for sweeping reforms and bowed to Washington reality.
The President, who recently advocated increasing the minimum age to buy an assault weapon to 21, tweeted that he’s “watching court cases and rulings” on the issue, adding that there is “not much political support (to put it mildly).”
Over the weekend, the White House released a limited plan to combat school shootings that leaves the question of arming teachers to states and local communities and sends the age issue to a commission for review.
Just two days earlier, Trump had mocked commissions as something of a dead end while talking about the opioid epidemic.
“We can’t just keep setting up blue-ribbon committees,” he said, adding that all they do is “talk, talk, talk.”
Seventeen people were killed in the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., prompting a national conversation about gun laws.
In a televised meeting with lawmakers Feb. 28, Trump praised members of the gun lobby as “great patriots” but declared “that doesn’t mean we have to agree on everything. It doesn’t make sense that I have to wait until I’m 21 to get a handgun, but I can get this weapon at 18.”
He then turned toward Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and questioned why previous gun control legislation did not include that provision.
“You know why?” said Trump, answering his own question. “Because you’re afraid of the NRA, right?”
Toomey had a ready response after the President’s tweet Monday: “It’s quite obvious that I’m the guy that stood up to the NRA,” he said. Asked if Trump was afraid of the gun lobby, Toomey said, “I don’t know what’s driving his decision.”
White House aides said Monday the President was focusing on achievable options after facing significant opposition from lawmakers on a more comprehensive approach.
Trump will back two modest pieces of legislation, and the administration pledged to help states pay for firearms training for teachers.
He tweeted of the age limit that, “States are making this decision. Things are moving rapidly on this, but not much political support (to put it mildly).”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who’d been at the bipartisan meeting with Trump, said he “completely caved to the gun lobby.”
“Shame on you, Mr. President,” she said. ALBANY — One of seven upstate Republican members of Congress being targeted by Gov. Cuomo in a new gun control effort is using the governor’s opposition to raise campaign cash. “King Cuomo is scared,” Rep. Chris Collins of Erie County wrote in a fund-raising email Monday. “He’s scared that we’re lowering your taxes, protecting our Second Amendment rights and helping businesses create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.” Collins has boasted of his “A” rating from the National Rifle Association. Cuomo, in his own email, sent Monday to supporters by the state Democratic Party he controls, said he relishes the fight with the NRA and the GOP. “There are Republican members of Congress from New York who, right now, are obstructing laws as basic and universally supported as universal background checks and keeping guns out of the hands of those guilty of domestic abuse,” Cuomo wrote. The Daily News reported Monday that nearly a month after the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, the state Dems were launching a gun control campaign that includes digital ads targeting seven of New York’s nine congressional Republicans.