WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on President Trump, Congress and guns (all times local):
1:10 p.m.
Rep. Steve Scalise says people at the FBI should be held accountable after it didn’t act on a tip about the man who later allegedly killed 17 people at a Florida high school.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with the members of the National Governors Association in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, Feb. 26, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The No. 3 House GOP leader suffered life-threatening wounds when a gunman shot several people last June at a congressional Republican baseball practice.
Scalise tells reporters the FBI had the Florida shooter’s name “on a silver platter” and says “there are people at the FBI that chose to let this go.” He says lawmakers should “hold people accountable.”
Scalise says he received a new baseball jersey last week while visiting the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The school’s jersey he was wearing at the practice “didn’t hold up” and is being held as evidence by the FBI.
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1 p.m.
Television personality Geraldo Rivera is expressing skepticism that President Donald Trump will achieve any new gun control measures.
On Twitter Tuesday Rivera says: “Incredibly we’re set to do nothing re gun control again. The only person in the country strong enough to stand up to #NRA @realDonaldTrump is apparently taking a pass after dropping modest reform of banning sales of semi automatics to kids not old enough to buy cigarettes & beer.”
Rivera recently pitched Trump on increasing the minimum age for rifle purchases.
Trump has expressed interest in the idea. But he has not backed any legislation and did not mention the concept when meeting with governors to discuss gun violence Monday.
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12:31 p.m.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn says the Senate should “immediately” pass a bill he has co-sponsored to strengthen federal background checks for gun purchases.
The bill would penalize federal agencies that don’t properly report required records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System and reward states that comply by providing them with federal grant preferences.
Cornyn, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, says he was dismayed that Senate Democrats want to debate other ideas before taking up the background checks bill, known as “Fix NICS.”
Cornyn said Tuesday that, “if our attitude is, ‘I want everything on my list or nothing,’ we’re going to end up with nothing” on gun control after the Florida high school shooting.
He urged senators to move “immediately to pass Fix NICS and build from there.”
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11:37 a.m.
House Speaker Paul Ryan is showing no interest in banning assault weapons or expanding background checks for gun sales online or at gun shows. He also says he thinks President Donald Trump’s idea of arming teachers is best left to local governments.
Ryan acknowledged there were “system failures” at the Florida school shooting and told reporters a lot of questions “need answers.”
Asked about proposals for stricter background checks or barring assault weapon sales, Ryan says Congress shouldn’t be “banning guns from law-abiding citizens.”
The House already passed legislation making modest fixes to the gun-purchase background check system. But the package stalled in the Senate because it also expands other gun owner rights. Ryan says if the Senate keeps just the background check provision, the House will “cross that bridge when we get to it.”
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12:35 a.m.
President Donald Trump says political leaders sometimes need to buck the National Rifle Association.
Republicans controlling Congress are less sure of that approach, keeping largely quiet amid public calls for stricter gun laws.
In the Senate, a bipartisan bill seeks to strengthen the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
Trump’s ideas to arm many teachers, lift the minimum age for purchasing assault rifles to 21 and impose stricter background checks have fallen flat so far. The White House is inviting lawmakers from both parties for meetings this week.
The Senate’s No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, questions Trump’s proposal to raise the age limit for assault weapons, calling it an arbitrary age increase.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House, in Washington, Monday, Feb. 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting survivor Maddy Wilford gets a kiss from her father, David Wilford, during a news conference at Broward Health North in Deerfield Beach, Fla., Monday, Feb. 26, 2018. (Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)
Eric Friday, third from left, the general council with Florida Carry, reacts as one of the protesters threatens gun lobbyist Marion Hammer as she leaves the Senate Rules Committee meeting on gun safety in the Knott Building at the Florida Capitol after the Rally in Tally in Tallahassee, Fla., Feb 26, 2018. (AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser)
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