Washington (CNN) The White House on Monday defended its piecemeal approach to combating gun violence and insisted President Donald Trump hasn't entirely abandoned the idea of raising the minimum age for purchasing guns, hours after the President said there was "not much political support" for the initiative.

"Right now, the President's primary focus is on pushing through things that we know have broad bipartisan support," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. "But we haven't let go of some of those other things that we're going to continue to review and look at."

Sanders said "the door isn't closed" on a White House push for raising the age of gun purchases to 21 at the federal level, even as the White House kicked consideration of the issue to a commission to be led by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. The White House's proposal on Monday focused largely on measures backed by the National Rifle Association, such as arming teachers and a bill to modestly improve background check reporting.

"On 18 to 21 Age Limits, watching court cases and rulings before acting. States are making this decision. Things are moving rapidly on this, but not much political support (to put it mildly)," Trump tweeted.

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