'Intelligent' Background Checks Get Thumbs-Up From Trump

NRA opposition won't be an issue, president says
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 9, 2019 2:16 PM CDT
Trump Endorses 'Intelligent' Background Checks
President Trump talks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Friday.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

"This isn't a question of NRA, Republican or Democrat," President Trump said Friday in talking about passing gun-control legislation in response to the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. "We need intelligent background checks." Trump said Mitch McConnell now is "totally on board," per the Hill. The Senate majority leader has declined to bring the Senate back early from recess, and the president said Friday that the issue can wait till its return in September. Although chief executive Wayne LaPierre called Trump this week to lobby against background checks, the president said the National Rifle Association won't be a problem, per ABC. "I think in the end the NRA will either be there or maybe be a little bit more neutral," Trump said, "and that would be OK."

Trump said congressional Republicans "are going to be great and lead the charge" for what he called "very meaningful" background checks. A spokesman for McConnell was less enthusiastic, saying the senator hasn't endorsed any particular gun-control legislation, per the Washington Post. McConnell had said Thursday that the Senate would consider background checks after recess. The House passed two such bills in February, but McConnell has blocked them in the Senate, and Trump has threatened vetoes. Addressing reporters outside the White House, Trump conceded that measures mandating more complete background checks have failed in the past. "But there’s never been a president like President Trump," he said. (More gun control stories.)

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