Trump: Take guns first, due process second
WASHINGTON – President Trump said Wednesday that he favors taking guns away from people who might commit violence before going through legal due process in the courts.
“I like taking guns away early,” Trump said during a White House meeting designed to hash out school safety legislation with a bipartisan group of lawmakers. “Take the guns first, go through due process second.”
Trump said some of his fellow Republicans were “petrified” of the NRA. He called on lawmakers to produce a “comprehensive” gun bill and squelched prospects for a GOP-backed conceal-carry proposal.
“We must harden our schools against attack,” Trump said. He called for other steps to end the “senseless violence” that has claimed lives in classrooms, nightclubs and workplaces across the country.
“We can’t wait and play games, and nothing gets done,” Trump said two weeks after a mass shooting that claimed 17 lives at a high school in Parkland, Fla.
Trump said he wants “one terrific bill” that can address better background checks, arming qualified teachers and school officials, increasing the age limit for certain gun purchases and finding ways to keep guns away from mentally ill people and others who should not have them.
Though some Republicans objected to new age limits and some Democrats questioned the wisdom of arming teachers, all pledged to work with Trump to try to get something done.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Trump that “the gun lobby has had a veto power” over gun legislation and that the president would have to work to overcome its opposition.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who supports a bill aimed at improving the national instant background check system, said, “The public demands that we act.”