Lost in much of the discussion is the fact that the proposal from Democrats likely would not have prevented Omar Mateen, the Orlando shooter, from buying his guns in the days before the massacre. The FBI had investigated Mateen for ties to terrorism twice in 2013 and 2014, and during those inquiries he was placed on the main watch list, known as the Terrorist Screening Database. But his name came off the list when those investigations ended. Democrats say that a proposal from Senator Dianne Feinstein of California would allow the attorney general to block gun sales to suspected terrorists even after a formal investigation is closed, but it would not require the government to do so.

Beyond Trump, there have been signs in the last 24 hours that Republicans might be shifting on the issue in the wake of the Orlando massacre and as the November elections approach. Representative Robert Dold of Illinois, a Republican representing a swing district, called for a vote on measures to restrict gun sales to suspected terrorists. Senator Rob Portman, who is in a tough reelection fight in Ohio, also told reporters that anyone on the terror watch list should be barred from purchasing guns. (A spokesman later clarified that Portman’s position was the same as it was in December, when he voted in favor of a weaker Republican bill to give the Justice Department more power to delay or block gun sales to suspected terrorists.) And on Wednesday morning, another vulnerable Republican senator, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, responded to Trump’s tweet about an NRA meeting with her own call for a resolution to the debate: “We need to work together to solve this and ensure terrorists can’t buy guns,” she wrote.

The NRA responded to Trump later on Wednesday by saying it was glad to meet but that its position had not changed.

Happy to meet @realdonaldtrump. Our position is no guns for terrorists—period. Due process & right to self-defense for law-abiding Americans — NRA (@NRA) June 15, 2016

Perhaps the most significant comments, however, came from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who said he was “open” to legislation that would keep guns out of the hands of terrorists. Republicans, he told reporters, were “open to serious suggestions from the experts as to what we might be able to do to be helpful.” McConnell’s top priority this year is not electing Trump president; it’s maintaining a Republican majority in the Senate, and the more pressure he gets from vulnerable members of his caucus, the more likely he is to move on legislation dealing with the watch list.

Any debate on restricting gun sales to people on the watch list is likely to center on the due-process provisions in the legislation. Democrats say their bill allows individuals to appeal their placement on the list, but it did not go far enough for the NRA or Republicans. Most Republicans instead voted for an alternative proposed by Senator John Cornyn of Texas, which would have allowed the attorney general to delay a sale of firearms to someone on the watch list for up to 72 hours and required the FBI to obtain a court order blocking the sale if the judge found probable cause that the person “has committed or will commit an act of terrorism.” Democrats deemed that standard far too high, and most voted against the bill.