Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Thursday he has never had confidence in President Trump doing the right thing when it comes to addressing gun violence.

Mr. Trump has yet to weigh in on the proposal to expand background checks that Attorney General William Barr floated this week and the NRA has smacked down as as “non-starter.”

“This president cannot be counted on when it comes to something this controversial to do the right thing,” Mr. Durbin, the Senate Democratic whip, told reporters Thursday. “He’s going to basically stand by the special interest group as he is with the NRA at this point.”

Republicans in Congress also were reluctant to embrace the leaked Barr proposal, which called for background checks to be expanded to include all commercial sales, including at gun shows.

The memo surfaced during Mr. Barr’s visit to Capitol Hill Wednesday and comes after Mr. Trump has vowed to offer up ideas on how to curb gun violence following the recent mass shootings in Ohio and Texas.

“I was skeptical from the start that this would ever end well,” Mr. Durbin said.

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