Trump tells aides he could support stricter gun background checks in wake of mass shootings

Donald Trump has said in private conversations that he is open to endorsing extensive background checks for gun buyers, prompting a warning from the National Rifle Association and concerns among White House aides, according to lawmakers and administration officials.

The US president, speaking to reporters before visiting Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, where weekend shootings left 31 dead, said there “was great appetite for background checks” amid an outcry over government inaction in the face of repeated mass shootings.

Mr Trump’s previous declarations of support for tougher gun controls, including after the deadly Parkland, Florida, shooting in February 2018, have foundered without a sustained push from the president and support from the NRA or Republican lawmakers.

Even White House advisers question how far he will go on any effort.

NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre spoke with the president on Tuesday after the president expressed support for a background check bill.

Officials said Mr LaPierre told him the move would not be popular among Mr Trump’s supporters and argued against the bill’s merits.

The NRA declined to comment.

Advisers to Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said he would not bring any gun-control legislation to the floor without widespread Republican support.

Mr Trump has hesitated, current and past White House officials said, between wanting to do more and growing concerned that doing so could prompt a revolt from his political base.

Even some supporters of the Manchin-Toomey bill, which would expand background checks to nearly all firearm sales, have said it is unlikely to pass.

“I don’t think the president or his Republican allies are going to become out of nowhere advocates of aggressive gun control,” said Matt Schlapp, who leads the American Conservative Union and is a close ally to MrTrump.

Mr Trump has focused on guns extensively since the shootings, calling lawmakers and surveying aides about what he should do – outreach that began on Sunday evening.

The president also asked lawyers about what he could enact through an executive order, officials said.

“He seems determined to do something and believes there is space to get something done this time around,” said Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Lindsey Graham, who said he had spoken to Mr Trump “four or five times” since the shooting. “The president has a pretty common-sense point of view. He’s never been a sports or gun enthusiast. But he is more determined than ever to do something on his watch.”

Mr Manchin said Mr Trump called him at 6.30am Monday and that the two spoke again on Tuesday, when Mr Trump said he wanted legislation before September and asked questions about the Manchin-Toomey bill.

He said he told the president that he would need to back any gun-control legislation or it would fail again.

On Tuesday, Mr Trump outlined some NRA concerns in a second call with Mr Manchin. “We talked about that,” the senator said. “I told him, we don’t expect the NRA to be supportive. Mr President, in all honesty, when you did the bump stocks, they weren’t for you. They were against that, too. You didn’t take any hit on that.”

In March, the Justice Department administratively banned bump stocks, the devices used to make semiautomatic rifles fire rapidly like machine guns.

Some measures – such as a ban on assault weapons – have been ruled out, White House officials and legislative aides say.

Recent polls indicate a majority of Americans support some form of a ban on assault rifles, though there is a large partisan divide and fewer than half of Republicans support such measures. A July NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll found 57 per cent of the public supported a ban on “the sale of semiautomatic assault guns, such as the AK-47 or the AR-15". Fewer than three in 10 Republicans supported the proposal, rising to a slight majority of independents and more than eight in 10 Democrats.

“There’s no political space for that,” Mr Graham said. “So I don’t think he’s going to go down that road.”

However, about nine in 10 Americans support requiring background checks for all gun purchases, including more than 8 in 10 Republicans, Democrats and independents, according to polling.

The Washington Post