GOP taken aback by Trump’s new gun stance
CONGRESS /
WASHINGTON — Action on gun legislation skidded to a halt Thursday in Congress — not for a lack of bipartisan proposals, but because President Donald Trump’s stunning shift on gun policy left some in his party confused, irritated and scrambling to figure out what to do next.
Republicans squirmed over Trump’s call for stricter gun laws after the assault on a Florida high school, while Democrats seized on the opening to reach beyond a modest measure gaining traction in Congress. They unveiled a more-ambitious priority list, with expanded background checks and even a politically risky ban on assault weapons.
Without a clear path forward for any legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shelved the gun debate, for now, saying the Senate would turn next week to other measures. McConnell had been preparing to push ahead with an incremental proposal from Sens. John Cornyn and Chris Murphy, but even that measure faced some GOP opposition.
“I’m hoping there’s a way forward,” he told reporters.
Lawmakers had been making incremental progress on a bill to boost participation in the existing federal background-check bill. But after Trump’s pronouncements this week, that legislation hardly mattered. Trump panned the bipartisan bill as little more than a building block for the “beautiful” and “comprehensive” legislation he envisions to protect Americans from mass shootings.
Trump suggested — but did not declare — his support for a more-sweeping background-check bill that would require review of firearm purchases online and at gun shows. The measure, from Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has found new momentum since it was first introduced after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that left 26 dead.
Toomey told Trump on Thursday that his backing would be needed to build support. “He wants to be helpful,” Toomey said.
Amid the shifting debate, the president convened yet another meeting on school safety, this time with schoolshooting survivors and family members of victims.
Beyond background checks, the president wants to use an executive order to bar the use of “bump stock” devices that enable guns to fire like automatic weapons. And he backs more controversial ideas, including increasing the minimum age for the purchase of assault weapons from 18 to 21, which is opposed by the NRA, and arming certain teachers, which the gun lobby supports.
Lawmakers were frustrated by Trump’s comments. Cornyn insisted his bill with Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, was “our best and only option” for passage.
“Obviously, he’s important,” Cornyn said about Trump. “But it’s our job to write the legislation, and he either vetoes it or he signs it.”
Democrats wasted no time quickly outlining their top three priorities: background checks, the ability to take guns away from those who pose a “clear danger,” and at least a debate on banning assault weapons like the AR-15 used at the Florida high school.
Republicans, meanwhile, were outwardly divided over what to do next, as their offices are being flooded with calls on both sides of the issue.
Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman suggested that even if the Senate can find agreement, Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin will face a tougher legislative lift in the House.
“There are some pretty strong views,” Portman said. “Trust me, I’m hearing from my Second Amendment supporters and my ban-the-gun supporters. They’re very concerned on both sides.”