National Review
In the days following the back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton earlier this month, Trump became excited about the prospect of announcing sweeping background check legislation during a high-profile White House Rose Garden event. He called LaPierre on August 7 to gauge the NRA’s support for the proposal but was quickly rebuffed.
Trump then called LaPierre back on Tuesday to assure him that he had abandoned his previous support for the legislation.
“He was cementing his stance that we already have background checks and that he’s not waffling on this anymore,” an unnamed source told The Atlantic. “He doesn’t want to pursue it.”
Trump began to retreat on his support for universal background check legislation in recent days after initially touting the “great appetite” for the bill, a version of which passed the Democratically controlled House earlier this year.I spoke to the president today. We discussed the best ways to prevent these types of tragedies. @realDonaldTrump is a strong #2A President and supports our Right to Keep and Bear Arms! – Wayne LaPierre— NRA (@NRA) August 20, 2019
“We have very, very strong background checks right now. But we have sort of missing areas and areas that don’t complete the whole circle, and we’re looking at different things,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Romanian president Klaus Iohannis Tuesday afternoon.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer predicted Trump’s seeming reversal on background check legislation in a Monday statement.
“We’ve seen this movie before: President Trump,
feeling public pressure in the immediate aftermath of a horrible
shooting, talks about doing something meaningful to address gun
violence, but inevitably, he backtracks in response to pressure from the
NRA and the hard-right,” Schumer said. “These retreats from President
Trump are not only disappointing but also heartbreaking, particularly
for the families of the victims of gun violence.”
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