President Donald Trump broke with the National Rifle Association to endorse raising the federal minimum age for purchasing a rifle to 21, in a Thursday tweet.

I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue – I hope! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

Trump directed attorney general Jeff Sessions Wednesday to begin the process to ban “bump stocks” which simulate the action of a machine gun for semi-automatic rifles and has spoken in the past about bolstering the FBI’s background check system. These actions by and large have been supported by the NRA.

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The NRA came out strongly against raising the federal minimum age for rifle purchasers Wednesday saying “passing a law that makes it illegal for a 20-year-old to purchase a shotgun for hunting or adult single mother from purchasing the most effective self-defense rifle on the market punishes law-abiding citizens for the evil acts of criminals.”

The law would essentially deprive “them of their constitutional right to self-protection,” NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker continued. The president hosted a Wednesday listening session with survivors and families of school shootings to hear ideas from those directly effected on how to mitigate school shootings and bolster school safety.

Trump appeared to endorse armed teachers in schools during the session and on twitter the following day.

I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving “concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience – only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

I never said “give teachers guns” like was stated on Fake News @CNN & @NBC. What I said was to look at the possibility of giving “concealed guns to gun adept teachers with military or special training experience – only the best. 20% of teachers, a lot, would now be able to — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

….History shows that a school shooting lasts, on average, 3 minutes. It takes police & first responders approximately 5 to 8 minutes to get to site of crime. Highly trained, gun adept, teachers/coaches would solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. GREAT DETERRENT! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

….If a potential “sicko shooter” knows that a school has a large number of very weapons talented teachers (and others) who will be instantly shooting, the sicko will NEVER attack that school. Cowards won’t go there…problem solved. Must be offensive, defense alone won’t work! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018

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