Trump Says He Wants ‘Meaningful Background Checks’ for Guns

Donald Trump said he wants “meaningful background checks” for firearms purchases after a pair of mass shootings that left more than 30 people dead, leading to protests that the president hasn’t done enough to stem gun violence.

“We have to have meaningful background checks,” Trump said as he departed the White House Friday for a fundraiser in the Hamptons.

“We don’t want guns in the hands of the wrong people,” he said, adding that he had spoken with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and that the Kentucky Republican was “totally on board.” He didn’t specify what McConnell supported, and McConnell has said only that the Republican-controlled Senate will weigh possible measures.

Earlier Friday, Trump said he’ll ensure that the National Rifle Association’s views are “fully represented and respected" as part of discussions in Congress about expanding background checks for gun buyers.

In a pair of tweets, the president reassured the nation’s gun lobby, declaring he’s "the biggest Second Amendment person there is," while continuing to signal an openness to an unspecified expansion of the reviews before purchases are completed.

"Serious discussions are taking place between House and Senate leadership on meaningful Background Checks,” Trump tweeted, adding that he’s “been speaking to the NRA, and others, so that their very strong views can be fully represented and respected."

The NRA has opposed expanded background checks.

Democrats have called on McConnell to allow a vote on a background checks bill that has already passed the Democrat-led House. Trump has so far declined to echo that call.

Senator Chuck Schumer, the chamber’s top Democrat, said Trump’s comments about the NRA were a bad sign for the possibility of legislation on background checks.

“If @realDonaldTrump needs the NRA’s sign off for background checks legislation, it will be nearly impossible to accomplish anything meaningful to address gun violence,” Schumer tweeted Friday.

McConnell told a Louisville radio station Thursday that gun legislation will be at the top of the chamber’s agenda when lawmakers return from their August break, including discussion of expanded background checks and “red flag” laws intended to keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals.

McConnell stopped short of saying he’d endorse stricter gun limits and said he wouldn’t acquiesce to demands that he bring the chamber back into session early to take up the matter. McConnell, a staunch gun control opponent, said he and Trump spoke Thursday and agreed bipartisan support will be needed for whatever direction the legislation takes.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s chief allies on Capitol Hill, told reporters Friday that he would be open to universal background checks for anyone buying an assault weapon, even if the gun is sold from a private dealer or transferred from a family member. Graham, who spoke aboard Air Force One as he traveled with the president, said he’s “floating that idea,” which would be “different than a shotgun or a pistol.”

Trump has chalked up the mass shootings last weekend in part to mental illness, while also saying he believes video games are a factor, despite the same games being available in other advanced nations that experience much lower rates of gun fatalities.

“Guns should not be placed in the hands of mentally ill or deranged people," Trump tweeted Friday.

The shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, killed 31 people. Trump visited hospitals in each city this week, excluding press from those visits but releasing campaign-style photos and videos.

The mayor of Dayton has pressed Trump to enact gun restrictions, while the mayor of El Paso, a border community, has pushed back again Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. The alleged shooter in El Paso posted a racist manifesto that used phrases previously used by the president.

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