On Monday, news came out of the White House that President Donald Trump is in support of improving the gun background check and he will support such legislation to ensure the safety of the US citizens. The statement comes as a response to ‘mass shooting’ incident in Florida last week.
A person opened fire at a Florida high school, which resulted in 17 deaths on spot. Thus, the President “is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system” for gun purchases. According to a statement released by White House, the press secretary Sarah Sanders stated, “While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system.”
It took a while but the White House broke the silence, five days after the incident happened. The gunman killed 17 people outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
In addition, Sanders also reported that President Trump met Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Friday to discuss a bill he prepared alongside Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), which will strengthen the federal background check system. As of now, “the discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered,” according to Sanders.
The ‘co-authored’ bill is supposed to focus on background checks only when it comes to gun purchases. It is believed that an individual would require ‘states and federal agencies to produce plans to report offenses that would bar people from passing a check needed to purchase a firearm.’
Apart from this, the federal agencies will have to report all sorts of violations to National Instant Criminal Background Check (NICBC) system. They also plan to create financial incentives for reporting information to the states.
In November 2017, a similar incident of mass shooting happened in Texas, due to which Cornyn and Murphy decided to implement this measure. However, it did not go through into law despite receiving support from the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Furthermore, it is still not clear whether Donald Trump is looking to back more sweeping gun legislation or not.
The meeting between President Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) took place behind the closed doors at Mar-a-Lago club, on Sunday. Paul Ryan, on multiple occasions, has shown resistance to new gun laws following last week’s shooting. Trump has been a supporter of gun rights for quite a long time now. However, he now finds himself under serious pressure to implement stricter laws for gun purchasing in the aftermath of the massacre.