This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Donald Trump has repeatedly endorsed a series of gun control proposals that put the Republican president at odds with the National Rifle Association and stunned lawmakers within his own party.

The president made the remarks during an extraordinary, hour-long White House meeting on Wednesday with congressional Republicans and Democrats who are under pressure to address gun violence in the aftermath of the massacre at a Florida high school earlier this month.

During the meeting, Trump called for a “beautiful” comprehensive bill that would expand background checks on gun purchases, remove guns from the hands of the mentally ill, bolster security on school campuses and restrict young people from purchasing certain weapons.

Within hours of the meeting’s conclusion, conservatives and some Republicans turned on Trump, who was elected with broad support from the gun lobby and claimed on Wednesday that the National Rifle Association had “no bigger fan”. Breitbart, the far-right news organization that fanned the flames of Trump’s rise, denounced the president as a “gun grabber” who “cedes” to Democrats.

Senator Ben Sasse, a conservative Republican who was not in the meeting, lacerated the president for his tendency to shift positions on a whim.

“Strong leaders do not automatically agree with the last thing that was said to them. We have the second amendment and due process of law for a reason,” Sasse said. “We’re not ditching any constitutional protections simply because the last person the president talked to today doesn’t like them.”

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Trump, who ran the meeting like a boardroom CEO, pointing at lawmakers for updates on their legislation, called on Congress to be “very strong” on background checks, repeatedly offering his support for a plan that failed to pass the Senate in April 2013, months after a gunman killed 20 young children and six staff members at Sandy Hook elementary school.

“You have to be very, very powerful on background checks. Don’t be shy,” Trump said during the televised session. He added: “I’d rather have you come down on the strong side than the weak side. The weak side is easier to do.”

Two senators, Democrat Joe Manchin and Republican Pat Toomey, both of whom attended the meeting, plan to reintroduce their bill that would have imposed universal background checks for commercial gun purchases, including at gun shows and over the internet.

Eighty-four percent of Americans favor such a law – although critics note that the proposed legislation still does not cover private sales between private people who are not licensed dealers.

Trump urged the lawmakers to combine the measure with a separate modest bipartisan proposal to incentivize public agencies to improve reporting to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Checks System. Democrats have said the plan is woefully inadequate, and does not address the demands of student survivors of the Parkland shooting, many of whom have called for a complete ban on assault weapons for civilian use.



In a surprising exchange with Toomey, Trump asked if his measure included a provision to raise the age to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21. Toomey replied that it did not, and Trump shot back: “You know why? Because you’re afraid of the NRA.”

Trump rejected a demand by conservatives in the House that this so-called Fix Nics bill be paired with controversial concealed carry legislation, which is favoured by the NRA and would loosen restrictions by enabling gun owners with concealed-carry permits in their home states to take their firearms across state lines.

“If you add concealed carry to this, you’ll never get it passed,” Trump told Steve Scalise, the House majority whip, who was seriously wounded last summer by a gunman targeting a congressional baseball practice. “Let it be a separate thing.”

Trump repeatedly berated his Republican colleagues, accusing them of being afraid of the NRA, and appeared to take pleasure in stating his willingness to take on the gun lobby.

“Some of you people are petrified of the NRA. You can’t be petrified,” he said. Trump gloated that he pushed the NRA’s leaders to back some reforms to gun regulations over lunch last weekend.

Trump alarmed staunch supporters of the second amendment when he suggested that in some cases law enforcement should be allowed to “take the guns early,” even before seeking approval from a court.

“Take the guns first, go through due process second,” Trump said.

The vice-president, Mike Pence, diverged, calling for more tools to report potentially dangerous individuals who own weapons. “Allow due process so no one’s rights are trampled, but the ability to go to court, obtain an order and then collect not only the firearms but any weapons …” Pence said, before being interrupted by Trump.



“Or, Mike, take the firearms first, and then go to court,” he said.

Asked whether Trump’s remarks in the meeting were a betrayal, NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said in a statement: “While today’s meeting made for great TV, the gun-control proposals discussed would make for bad policy that would not keep our children safe. Instead of punishing law-abiding gun owners for the acts of a deranged lunatic our leaders should pass meaningful reforms that would actually prevent future tragedies.”

In the meeting, Trump also called for “hardening” schools, and again asserted his controversial idea that arming teachers would help prevent future shootings. He also said he would issue an executive order banning “bump stocks”, devices that effectively convert semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic weapons.



“You don’t have to worry about bump stocks. Shortly that will be gone, I’ll do it,” Trump said. The president said last week he was asking the Department of Justice to look into outlawing the gun accessory.

The meeting was similar to a televised session on immigration, convened by Trump earlier this year, in which he appeared to break with the hardline anti-immigration forces that fueled his rise to the presidency.

Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat who was at the immigration meeting and was on the losing end of the president’s vacillation on the issue, said he was hopeful but skeptical that Trump would stick to the views expressed in Wednesday’s meeting.

“I wouldn’t bet the farm on it,” Durbin said.

During the meeting on Wednesday, Senator John Cornyn, the second-ranking Republican in the chamber, presented his Fix Nics plan. The bill, which he co-sponsored with the Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy, would strengthen reporting and information sharing in the existing background checks system. The bill, however, does not address loopholes for private sales, family transfers and purchases at gun shows.

“Fix Nics has some really good things in it but it would be nice if we could add everything on to it – and maybe change the name,” Trump said, offering the alternative title: “The US background bill, or whatever.”

Trump urged lawmakers, especially Republicans, to go bigger, reminding them that a majority of Americans support expanding background checks. But he also appeared to ignore the legislative challenges – and past failures.

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“It’s going to be way above 60,” Trump predicted of the vote in the Senate. “Maybe a number that nobody would ever believe. People want to see something happen.”



But despite immense public pressure, led in part by students who survived the Parkland shooting, and an endorsement from the president, some Republican lawmakers maintain that the political reality is unlikely to produce any consequential action on gun control.



“They call politics the art of the possible for a reason. A lot of things that sound like interesting ideas, we just simply can’t get the votes for them,” Cornyn said.

Republicans, who had hoped to pass the Fix Nics legislation by the end of the week, are no longer sure what the path forward will be.

“Everybody’s trying to absorb what we just heard,” Cornyn said.

