NRA Calls Trump After He Cites Background Checks Support

Your supporters wouldn't like that, LaPierre tells president
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 8, 2019 6:34 PM CDT
Signals on Background Checks Bring a Phone Call From NRA
Wayne LaPierre, chief executive of the NRA, listens to President Trump in 2017 at the White House.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Since the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, President Trump has suggested to reporters, aides and members of Congress that background checks for people wanting to buy guns might be a good idea. That has earned him warning calls from the head of the National Rifle Association, the Washington Post reports. Wayne LaPierre, the group's chief executive, called Tuesday to tell Trump his supporters wouldn't like that, and the two talked several more times Wednesday. There are bills in the works to expand background checks, which the NRA officially opposes. A White House official told the Post that Trump has been asking whether the recent turmoil and accusations involving the gun rights group will leave it weakened as a political force.

Gun control legislation can't be sent to the president quickly unless Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, orders the Senate back into session. He hasn't done that, so House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Trump on Thursday to bring the Senate back from recess to take up the background checks legislation already passed by the House. McConnell said Thursday that the Senate will look at the legislation next month, per the AP. Also on Thursday, more than 200 mayors wrote Senate leaders asking that members return to take up the issue. "Our nation can no longer wait for our federal government to take the actions necessary to prevent people who should not have access to firearms from being able to purchase them," wrote the mayors, including the leaders of El Paso and Dayton. (Trump took action at an NRA convention.)

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