After having dinner with the NRA, the White House has backed off expanding background checks for gun purchases.
Chris Cox of the NRA tweeted:
I had a great meeting tonight with @realDonaldTrump & @VP. We all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control. #NRA #MAGA
— Chris Cox (@ChrisCoxNRA) March 2, 2018
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
Here was the exchange between Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and reporters on Friday morning as provided to PoliticusUSA by the White House Press Pool:
Q: Is he interested in expanding background checks for all gun purchases?
Sanders: Not necessarily universal background checks, but certainly improving the background check system. He wants to see what that legislation, the final piece of it looks like. Universal means something different to a lot of people. He certainly wants to focus and improve on the background check system. In terms of what legislation, as of right now he supports the Cornyn legislation…
Trump’s words mean nothing. Donald Trump is doing exactly what the NRA tells him to do. Republicans in Congress currently have no plans to vote on gun legislation so the strategy is to wait for the interest in gun reform to die down and go on with business as usual until the next terrible mass shooting where this cycle will be repeated all over again.
The president’s meeting with members of Congress was reality TV, as Sen. Richard Blumenthal described it. The NRA is still pulling the strings of Republicans in the White House and Congress, and the only way to get real change on the issue of gun violence is to vote them out of office. Otherwise, innocent people will continue to die, and nothing will change.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
