Trump’s stance muddles gun debate
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.
Congress is under pressure to act after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting last month that left 17 dead. 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 envisioned would protect Americans from mass shootings.
“Many ideas, some good & some not so good,” Trump tweeted Thursday, singling out background checks. “After many years, a bill should emerge.”
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 20 children dead.
The president reached out to Toomey on Thursday, after the senator endured the brunt of Trump’s public criticism of lawmakers as “afraid” of the National Rifle Association, and encouraged him to pursue the bill.
The senator told Trump his backing would be needed to build support. “He wants to be helpful,” Toomey told The Associated Press.
Amid the shifting debate, the president convened yet another meeting on school safety, this time with school shooting survivors and family members of victims, and the White House considered releasing the president’s list of legislative priorities.