Head of NRA called Trump to warn him new background check law would turn his supporters against him

Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association, warned Donald Trump Tuesday that pushing for background checks would cause him to lose supporters.

Trump and LaPierre spoke this week, officials told The Washington Post, after the president came out in support of background checks for gun purchases following two mass shootings over the weekend.

The NRA chief also argued against legislation that would require universal background checks.

The biggest gun rights advocacy group has been embroiled in financial woes and controversy lately, especially after a report emerged last week that LaPierre sought to use NRA money to buy a $6 million mansion in a gated Dallas-area golf club.

The bill LaPierre railed against to the president, which was already passed in the House, has bipartisan sponsorship in the Senate by Republican Pat Toomey and moderate Democrat Joe Manchin.

After one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history in 2017, the Trump administration passed legislation that strengthened background checks, and after the latest two mass shootings, Trump has come out, again, in support of more strict background checks for firearms purchases. 

NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre told Donald Trump he would lose supporters if he supported a universal background check bill

Pierre and Trump spoke the day after the president delivered remarks following 31 deaths in two separate mass shootings over the weekend

Pierre and Trump spoke the day after the president delivered remarks following 31 deaths in two separate mass shootings over the weekend

In the wake of the shootings, Trump has come out in support of strengthening background checks and has spoken with senators about a bill that would impose sweeping checks for almost all firearms purchases

In the wake of the shootings, Trump has come out in support of strengthening background checks and has spoken with senators about a bill that would impose sweeping checks for almost all firearms purchases

The mass shootings in EL Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, which left 31 dead and dozens of others injured, has caused outcry over government inaction over gun reform.

Trump told reporters Wednesday that there is a ‘great appetite for background checks.’

In televised remarks on the shooting Monday, Trump didn’t specifically mention that he supported background checks, but did tout the STOP School Violence and Fiz NICS Acts that were passed with bipartisan support last year. The measures included strengthening background checks.

The president spoke with Manchin on Tuesday and outlined concerns the NRa had with the bill, but the West Virginia senator said he never thought gun rights advocacy group would get behind the legislation.

‘We talked about that,’ Manchin said of the NRA’s concerns with the bill. ‘I told him, ‘we don’t expect the NRA to be supportive. Mr. President, in all honesty, when you did the bump stocks, they weren’t for you. They were against that, too. You didn’t take any hit on that.’

On Wednesday, Trump said the nation has a 'great appetite for background checks'

On Wednesday, Trump said the nation has a ‘great appetite for background checks’

Senator Joe Manchin

NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre

Senator Joe Mahcin (left), who is co-sponsoring the bill, told Trump he didn’t expect LaPierre (right) or the NRA to support the measure

Manchin said Trump was inquisitive during their calls, but the senator told him the needed more Republicans to help get it through the Senate. He also said he told the president he would need to personally back any gun-control legislation or it would fail again.

Trump has been focused on guns since this shootings, and officials say he has even asked his lawyers about what actions he could take through an executive order.

Earlier this year the Trump administration banned bump stocks, which are devices that are used to make semiautomatic rifles mimic machine guns with rapid fire.

Calls for banning these devices gained traction after a shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada in October 2017 where 58 people were killed and hundreds of others injured by a lone gunman.

After the most recent shooting, even Republicans are calling for action on gun legislation – particularly background checks.

'He seems determined to do something and believes there is space to get something done this time around,' Senator Lindsey Graham, who said he's spoken with Trump several times since the shooting, said

‘He seems determined to do something and believes there is space to get something done this time around,’ Senator Lindsey Graham, who said he’s spoken with Trump several times since the shooting, said

Sen. Pat Toomey, who is the other sponsor of the bill, said when speaking to the president he seemed very 'open-minded' about the bill and other potential measures to address gun violence

Sen. Pat Toomey, who is the other sponsor of the bill, said when speaking to the president he seemed very ‘open-minded’ about the bill and other potential measures to address gun violence

The universal background check bill was passed in the House in February with only eight Republican votes, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he won’t bring any gun control legislation for a vote unless it has widespread GOP support.

The Manchin-Toomey bill would expand background checks to nearly all firearm sales, and even supporters of the measure say it most likely won’t pass.

Lindsey Graham, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he has spoken with the president ‘four or five times’ since the shootings.

‘He seems determined to do something and believes there is space to get something done this time around,’ the South Carolina Republican said. ‘The president has a pretty ­common-sense point of view. He’s never been a sports or gun enthusiast. But he is more determined than ever to do something on his watch.’

The bill’s cosponsor, Toomey, said he has spoken with Trump at least three times in the aftermath of the shootings.

‘I will just tell you generally the president is open-minded about this,’ The Pennsylvania senator said. 

The NRA has faced growing scrutiny as mass shootings continue to rattle the nation.

Just last year, LaPierre said he feared he would be targeted after the shooting in Parkland, Florida at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and sought to purchase a luxury mansion with the nonprofit’s funds.

He said he needed a more secure place to live with growing threats.

The NRA’s president was ousted in April after holding the position for only a year.

Oliver North, now the former president of the NRA, allegedly had some internal fighting with LaPierre and was accused of trying to extort the nonprofit’s executive to get him to depart with the NRA.

Democrats are also worried about Republican links to the gun rights advocacy group, especially since the NRA is one of the GOP’s biggest financial supporters.

A Republican strategist said “infighting and accusations”at the NRA will “have an impact in the NRA’s ability to raise money, which would be used in elections to turn out its membership.”

Democrats want to know which Republicans are linked with the group that lobbies against almost any form of gun control regulations or alleged infringements on the Second Amendment.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk