Donald Trump boasts about ‘very good meeting’ on gun legislation with the NRA, Republicans and Democrats – a day after he blamed mass shootings on mental illness
- Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that his administration is making great strides in rolling out gun legislation to prevent mass shootings
- He said he had a meeting with Republicans and Democrats Thursday
- Trump said he’s also talking with the NRA and health officials
- ‘I am hopeful Congress will engage with my Team to pass meaningful legislation that will make a real difference and, most importantly, Save Lives!’ he said
- On Wednesday Trump said he wanted to ‘close loopholes’ in background checks, but still wanted the ‘mentally sane’ to be able to purchase firearms
- Gun law reform is expected to appear on the Congress’ agenda when lawmakers return to Washington D.C. after Labor Day
As the nation reels in the wake two mass shootings earlier this month, President Donald Trump says his administration is making progress in passing legislation that will crack down on the gun violence.
Trump took to Twitter to say that his administration has made strides in its legislation to prevent mass shootings by working with Republicans, the NRA and leaders across the political aisle.
‘Just concluded a very good meeting on preventing Mass Shootings. Talks are ongoing w/ both Republicans & Democrats. We are likewise engaging with lawful gun owners, survivors, grieving family members, law enforcement, the NRA, mental health professionals, and school officials…’ he tweeted Thursday evening.
‘I am hopeful Congress will engage with my Team to pass meaningful legislation that will make a real difference and, most importantly, Save Lives!’ he added.
Donald Trump tweeted Thursday that his administration is making great strides working with the NRA, Republicans and Democrats to roll out gun legislation that will prevent mass shootings. The president pictured in the Oval Office Thursday
He said: ‘I am hopeful Congress will engage with my Team to pass meaningful legislation that will make a real difference and, most importantly, Save Lives!’
His positive tweets followed after he sparked confusion over his stance on gun background checks on Wednesday.
When asked about the checks, Trump vaguely said he had an ‘appetite’ to close ‘some of the loophoples’ of the law but still wants to make it easy for the ‘mentally ‘sane’ to purchase firearms.
‘I have an appetite for background checks. We’re going be doing background checks. We’re working with Democrats. We’re working with Republicans. And we already have very strong background checks. But we’re going to be filling in some of the loopholes,’ the president told reporters on the South Lawn Wednesday.
‘We’re dealing with the NRA, we’re dealing with gun owners, we’re dealing with everybody. And I think we’ll have something hopefully that’s meaningful,’ he added.
Gun law reform is expected to appear on the Congress’ agenda when lawmakers return to Washington D.C. after Labor Day.
Current U.S. law only requires background checks on guns sold through licensed dealers – and not for gun shows, private sales or fire arms sold online. Sales by authorized dealers account for 78 per cent of all gun sales in the United States.
The House has passed legislation that would close all the loopholes and require universal background checks.
In his Wednesday talk with reporters, Trump reiterated that mass shootings can be blamed on mental health issues.
His meetings come after two devastating mass shootings took place within 24 hours in early August, killing 29. Mourners pictured at the scene of the Dayton, Ohio shooting on August 5 that left nine dead
‘I want guns to be in the hands of people that are mentally stable. And those people, I want them to easily be able get a gun. But people that are insane, people that are sick up here, I don’t want them to be able to get a gun,’ he explained.
And his latest comments followed reports he told NRA President Wayne LaPierre in a phone call on Tuesday that universal background checks were off the table after two weeks of intense lobbying by the pro-gun group.
Trump denied he made any such comment to LaPierre.
‘I didn’t say anything about that. We had a great talk with Wayne yesterday. Didn’t say anything about that. We just talked about concepts. Wayne agrees things have to be done also. And we have areas where we can close,’ he said.
Trump also had 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.