President Trump gave a green light to background check legislation on Wednesday, saying he thinks there is an “appetite” for the measure after the mass shootings over the weekend.

“I think background checks are important,” the president told reporters as he prepared to leave the White House to visit Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas.

Asked about the possibility that Congress would take action to limit or ban assault weapons, Trump said “there is no political appetite for that at this moment” but “there is great appetite for background checks.”

Trump took a similarly dim view of the prospects for a ban on large-capacity magazines — like the 100-round double drum used by Dayton killer Connor Betts — despite his administration’s ban on bump stocks in the wake of the 2017 Las Vegas slaughter.

“You have to have a political appetite within Congress. And, so far, I have not seen that,” Trump said. “I think there’s a great appetite to do something with regard to making sure that mentally unstable, seriously ill people aren’t carrying guns … I have not seen it with regard to certain types of weapons.”

He said he’s been in contact with congressional leadership on the issue.

“If we get close, I will bring them back,” Trump said of Congress, which is on recess until September. “We have to see where we are with leadership.”

“I’ll be convincing people to do things they don’t want to do, including in Congress,” the president said. “You have a lot of people on one side and a lot of people on the other. I have a lot of influence with a lot of people. I want to convince them to do the right thing, and I can tell you, we’ve made a lot of headway.”

He said he supports background checks because “I don’t want to put guns into the hands of mentally unstable people or people with rage or hate. Sick people. I’m all in favor of it.”

“We need to make sure seriously ill people aren’t carrying guns.” he continued.

A gunman opened fire at a Walmart in the border town of El Paso on Saturday, killing 22 people and wounding scores more before being arrested by police.

Around 13 hours later, a man wearing body armor killed nine people and wounded dozens more in a shooting at a popular nightlife area of Dayton.

Police shot the gunman dead.