Trump signals support for background checks on gun sales

Make sure to let us know what you think... we now have comments turned ON below the article!

As has become typical after any mass shooting tragedy, anti-gun Democrats immediately rushed to propose gun control infringements upon the Second Amendment after the shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, while many Republicans reiterated their firm stance against more restrictions on gun owners.

President Donald Trump, a generally pragmatic dealmaker in search of a compromise, has decided to look for a middle ground. Trump let the media know on Wednesday that he is “in favor of” legislation to expanded background checks for gun sales, but stopped short of supporting calls for another ban on so-called “assault weapons.”

Expanded background checks for gun purchases

The president stopped to speak with reporters prior to leaving the White House to visit Dayton and El Paso on Wednesday, and it didn’t take long before he was asked to weigh in on the current debate over potential laws to address mass shootings.

Asked about a bill currently mired in Congress that would expand background checks, Trump replied, “Well, I’m looking to do background checks. I think background checks are important. I don’t want to put guns into the hands of mentally unstable people or people with rage or hate, sick people. I don’t want to — I’m all in favor of it.”

Just prior to that question, Trump was asked if he would consider calling Congress, who are on their month-long August recess, back into session early, but he indicated that such a decision would be left up to the various leaders of Congress…unless there was some sort of unspecified deal reached that would require a full vote.

“Assault weapons” ban unlikely

President Trump was also asked where he stood on the idea of a new “assault weapons” ban, and replied, “Well, I can tell you that there is no political appetite for that at this moment.”

“If you look at the — you could speak, you could do your own polling. And there’s no political appetite, probably, from the standpoint of legislature,” he continued. “But I will certainly bring that up. I’ll bring that up as one of the points.”

“There’s a great appetite — and I mean a very strong appetite — for background checks. And I think we can bring up background checks like we’ve never had before. I think both Republican and Democrat are getting close to a bill on — they’re doing something on background checks,” Trump added.

“High-capacity” magazines ban also unlikely

A few moments later a reporter reminded the president of his ban on bump stock attachments and asked he would similarly consider banning “high-capacity magazines,” but the president appeared to relegate that idea to the same place as an “assault weapons” ban, meaning such a move would be unlikely at this point.

“So, you have to have a political appetite within Congress. And, so far, I have not seen that. I mean, I can only do what I can do,” he said in regard to a ban on “high-capacity magazines.”

“I think there’s a great appetite to do something with regard to making sure that mentally unstable, seriously ill people aren’t carrying guns. And I’ve never seen the appetite as strong as it is now. I have not seen it with regard to certain types of weapons,” Trump added, reiterating his openness to expanded background checks but not for bans on certain weapons and certain ammunition magazines.

Despite staunch opposition from Second Amendment supporters against any further infringement of gun rights, Trump is right to note that there is a “strong appetite” among many people, even on the right, to “do something” to address gun violence. The effectiveness of any of the proposed solutions is debatable, but it sure seems like expanded background checks are a thing that could soon happen with the president’s support.

178 Responses

  1. fantastic post, very informative. I wonder why the other experts of this sector do not notice this. You should continue your writing. I am confident, you’ve a huge readers’ base already!

  2. Wow! This blog looks just like my old one! It’s on a entirely different subject but it has pretty much the same layout and design. Excellent choice of colors!

  3. With havin so much written content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My site has a lot of unique content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my agreement. Do you know any ways to help reduce content from being ripped off? I’d really appreciate it.

  4. Whats up this is kind of of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!

  5. When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get four e-mails with the same comment. Is there any way you can remove me from that service? Bless you!

  6. Sweet blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Appreciate it

  7. With havin so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement? My site has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my permission. Do you know any methods to help protect against content from being stolen? I’d definitely appreciate it.

  8. Heya this is kinda of off topic but I was wondering if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m starting a blog soon but have no coding skills so I wanted to get advice from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!

  9. Hi there would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you recommend a good internet hosting provider at a reasonable price? Kudos, I appreciate it!

  10. With havin so much written content do you ever run into any issues of plagorism or copyright violation? My site has a lot of unique content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it appears a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my agreement. Do you know any solutions to help stop content from being stolen? I’d definitely appreciate it.

  11. Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back often!

  12. Appreciating the dedication you put into your site and detailed information you provide. It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same old rehashed material. Excellent read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.

  13. Thanks for a marvelous posting! I definitely enjoyed reading it, you are a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and will come back in the future. I want to encourage that you continue your great posts, have a nice morning!

  14. Greetings from California! I’m bored to tears at work so I decided to check out your website on my iphone during lunch break. I enjoy the info you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m surprised at how fast your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, excellent site!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Popular