Donald Trump backing away from background checks for gun owners

Donald Trump appears to be backing away from his support of background checks for gun purchases in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton after intense lobbying from the powerful NRA. 

The gun-rights group has gone full-court press on the issue after a series of mass shootings earlier this month prompted the president to offer his support for ‘meaningful background checks.’

NRA officials took action, flooding the White House, Congress and governors’ offices with phone calls, The New York Times reported. 

Donald Trump appears to be backing away from his endorsement of background checks for gun owners after intense lobbying from the powerful NRA

Trump has expressed support for ‘meaningful background checks’ after shootings in El Paso

The NRA has also lobbied Vice President Pence’s office and acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, The Washington Post reported.

Additionally both NRA officials and White House aides have pointed out to Trump that many of the states he needs to win in 2020 have large contingents of gun supporters, who would not want to see any restrictions on purchases.    

Since then, White House officials noted that Trump has tamped down on the issue in private discussions. 

The president also appeared to take a step back on the issue Sunday when speaking to reporters in New Jersey, where he had been spending some time at his Trump National Golf Club Bedminister.

‘I’m not saying anything,’ he said when asked if he’d support universal background checks.  

Trump also said he was ‘very, very concerned with the Second Amendment, more so than most presidents would be. People don’t realize we have very strong background checks right now.’

‘I don’t want people to forget that this is a mental health problem. I don’t want them to forget that, because it is. It’s a mental health problem,’ he noted. 

The president has been pushing the mental health line in his public appearances in the last few weeks. 

‘It is not the gun that pulls the trigger, it is the person holding the gun,’ he told a campaign rally in Manchester, N.H., last week. 

Trump has supported and then wavered on the issue before and some see echoes of his tough words in the wake of mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton – where 31 people were killed – as to what happened after the Parkland shooting.

After the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School – where 17 people were killed – the president expressed support for universal back ground checks only to later threaten to veto such a bill when it was passed by House Democrats. 

That reversal also followed intense lobbying from the NRA. 

Earlier this month Trump expressed his support for background checks and down played speculation such a move could hurt him politically.

‘I have a great relationship with the NRA. They supported me very early,’ he said. ‘I have a lot of respect for the people at the NRA and I have already spoken to them on numerous occasions and, frankly, we need intelligent background checks. This isn’t a question of NRA, Republican or Democrat.’

Democrats criticized the president for wavering. 

‘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,’ Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement Monday.

‘I pray that the President will listen to the 90 percent of the American people who support universal background checks,’ Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in her own statement.

Both leaders urged Trump to call on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to bring the upper chamber back into session to pass the background legislation the House approved earlier this year.

The House passed legislation in February that would require background checks for all firearms sales, including those purchased online and at gun shows. 

Only eight Republicans voted with them on the measure.

But McConnell has said he will not bring back his lawmakers, who are on their August recess and not due back in Washington D.C. until after Labor Day. 

The NRA – led by President Wayne LaPierre – has lobbied the White House against background checks

President Trump – seen here with Melania and Barron – has wavered on background checks before

‘If we did that we’d just have people scoring points and nothing would happen,’ McConnell told a Kentucky radio station earlier this month. 

Because of that recess, the president’s talk with key lawmakers on gun legislation have gone cold, The Washington Post reported. 

Trump has been talking with Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia about their bipartisan legislation that would expand background checks to private and online sales.

McConnell is also said to be reluctant to push his senators to vote on the issue without some type of political cover from the president.  

But some White House aides told the Times the president could shift back to gun control legislation when Congress returns this fall.

‘The president is not backing down,’ a White House official told The Post. ‘The White House continues to work through a policy process and is engaging with congressional staff on several fronts.’ 

With lawmakers on a break, Trump has turned his attention to the economy, trade talks with China and his upcoming re-election campaign. 

Additionally, a private poll from the Republican Main Street Partnership, which supports moderate Republicans, showed three out of four suburban women support background checks – a voting bloc that will be key for the GOP in next year’s election.  

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk