President Donald Trump on Wednesday continued careening from one policy stance to the opposite, this time saying he has an “appetite” for background checks legislation after twice this week backing away from just that.

“We’re going to be doing background checks,” Trump told reporters before departing the White House for a speech to military veterans and two fundraising events in Kentucky. Notably, he said his focus would be on closing so-called “loopholes” in existing laws.

But the president also clearly is attempting to toe a line. He needs his Second Amendment-coveting conservative base to turn out in big numbers in a handful of battleground Rust Belt states and Florida. But political analysts also say he needs to retain some suburban women who are worried about their families’ safety after a spate of mass shootings in enough places to again get to 270 electoral votes.

[Payroll tax cuts off the table? Not so fast, says Trump in another whiplash reversal]

The president on Wednesday repeated his warning about guns-related legislation that might overreach, calling such a bill the start of a “slippery slope” that might lead to the steady chipping away at gun rights.