On Thursday, days after the 255th mass shooting in America this year, Donald Trump spoke to Democrat leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer by phone about the prospect of a universal background check bill. “The president gave us his assurances that he would review the bipartisan House-passed legislation and understood our interest in moving as quickly as possible to help save lives,” Pelosi and Schumer said in a joint statement. For those more worried about maintaining unfettered access to guns than preventing the 256th mass shooting, this turn of events might have been cause for concern. But luckily for them, the president assured the nation on Friday that his top priority is not upsetting the National Rifle Association.

“Serious discussions are taking place between House and Senate leadership on meaningful Background Checks,” Trump wrote on Twitter, adding that he has “also been speaking to the NRA, and others, so that their very strong views can be fully represented and respected.” In fact, according to USA Today, the president spoke to NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre numerous times between Tuesday and Wednesday, as he traveled to El Paso and Dayton, where dozens of people were killed over the weekend. While LaPierre would not offer details about the content of the phone calls, one can probably make an educated guess. Officials who spoke to the Washington Post on the condition of anonymity said LaPierre warned the president that a background check bill “would not be popular among” his supporters, in addition to arguing against “the bill’s merits.”

Affirming that he is “the biggest Second Amendment person there is,” Trump also tweeted on Friday that “Guns should not be placed in the hands of mentally ill or deranged people” and that “we all must work together for the good and safety of our Country,” noting that “Common sense things can be done that are good for everyone.” Of course, critics have noted that Trump has previously made it sound as though he was moved to do something about gun control in the wake of other mass shootings—notably after Parkland—and then failed to follow through. “We’ve seen it before,” Schumer tweeted on Monday, prior to his phone call with the president. “An awful shooting occurs. @realDonaldTrump expresses interest in helping. Republicans try to get him off the hook with lesser measures. Nothing happens.” (As for concern about guns being placed in the hands of the mentally ill, in 2017, Trump made it easier for individuals with mental illnesses to buy guns by rolling back an Obama-era rule that added people receiving Social Security checks for mental illness and those deemed unable to handle their own financial affairs to the national background-check database.)

Plus, there’s also the issue of needing Senator Mitch McConnell’s blessing to do something about gun control, which at this point he does not appear inclined to offer:

McConnell on Thursday said strengthening background checks and “red flag” laws will “lead the discussion” in upcoming gun reform talks, but declined to summon senators back to Capitol Hill from their August recess. “If we did that, we’d just have people scoring points and nothing would happen,” McConnell told a Kentucky news radio show, after speaking with the president Thursday morning. “There has to be a bipartisan discussion here of what we can agree on. If we do it prematurely it will just be another frustrating experience for all of us and for the public.”

Anyway, in related news:

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