One reporter suggested the Trump “chickened out” from confronting the NRA on gun control, something Sanders denied.
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The NRA is suing Florida after it passed a state gun control law which raises the legal age for buying rifles to 21 as well as allowing for the training and arming of school staff.
On Monday morning, Trump tweeted that the administration will monitor “court cases and rulings before acting”. States are making this decision. He and Republican leaders in Congress have been afraid to cross the National Rifle Association ahead of the November midterm elections because the gun lobby has always been a powerful force mobilizing conservative activists in elections.
So help me understand a little bit more, because there seems to be some confusion about what the Trump administration’s stance is on whether certain issues around gun safety in schools should be dealt with at the state level or at the federal level.
Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who wrote the school safety bill, tweeted he was “grateful” for the White House backing, calling the measure “the best first step we can take” to make students safer.
Robert Spitzer, an expert on the gun rights debate and chair of the political science department at the State University of New York, College at Cortland, foresaw no meaningful reform in the White House announcement.
Rather than push for a sweeping federal law, Trump wants state and local officials to set the age limits.
The White House has repeatedly pushed back the date for delivering its formal recommendations.
“Look, he hasn’t backed away from these things at all”, Sanders said. “Things are moving rapidly on this, but not much political support (to put it mildly)”.
But a retired professor who helped author Minnesota’s hide and Carry law says arming teachers is critical. They announced Sunday night they would help train schoolteachers to carry guns, a proposal plucked straight from the NRA, and they’d endorse a Republican-led bill that reinforces the background check system but doesn’t expand it.
Lastly, the administration wants to better integrate mental health, primary care and family services programs, and the president has ordered a full audit and review of the Federal Bureau of Investigation tip line, he said.
The top Democrats in Congress accused Trump of caving to the NRA and vowed to keep pushing for tougher gun measures.
On Sunday, Trump tweeted that it was “wrong” to say he was unhappy with the legal team handling the Russian Federation matter and considering adding another lawyer.
President Donald Trump will push states to make it easier to seize weapons from people a court finds unsafe, hold federal agencies more accountable for background checks, and promote arming teachers.
A possible ban on bump stocks would also be a part of the proposed legislation. Now an attorney at the law firm Williams & Connolly, it was last Summer when he reportedly turned down a chance to work for the president.
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Trump has now embraced a proposal from John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, and Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of CT, which is supported by many but not all Republicans.
