The White House supports efforts to strengthen background checks for gun purchases in the wake of last week's shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla.
The White House said on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump supports efforts to improve federal background checks for gun purchases, five days after a shooting at a Florida school killed 17 people.
Trump spoke to Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, about a bipartisan bill that he and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background checks, White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said.
"While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system," Sanders said in a statement.
Cornyn and Murphy introduced the bill to improve federal background checks last November, days after a gunman killed more than two dozen people in a church in Texas.
Students reflect in front of a cross and Star of David for shooting victim Meadow Pollack at a memorial near the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Sunday. (Jonathan Drake/Reuters )
The bill, called the Fix NICS Act, would ensure that states and federal agencies comply with existing law on reporting criminal history records to the national background check system.
Cornyn, of Texas, had complained when introducing the legislation that compliance by agencies was "lousy."
The legislation would be aimed at ensuring that federal agencies and states accurately report relevant criminal information to the FBI. It was introduced after the U.S. Air Force failed to report the criminal history of the gunman responsible for the church shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
Students from the Florida high school where a former student is accused of killing 17 people last week using an assault-style rifle, are planning a March For Our Lives in Washington on March 24 to call attention to school safety and ask lawmakers to enact gun control.
Trump plans 'listening session' with students
Trump, who is spending the long weekend at his private Palm Beach estate, started President's Day at his nearby golf club. The White House did not immediately answer questions about whether he was playing golf. The president spent most of the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, as White House aides advised against golfing too soon after the shooting in Parkland.
Trump spent much of the holiday weekend watching cable television news and grousing to club members and advisers about the investigation of Russian election meddling.
In a marathon series of furious weekend tweets from Mar-a-Lago, Trump vented about Russia, raging at the FBI for what he perceived to be a fixation on the Russia investigation at the cost of failing to deter the attack on a Florida high school. He made little mention of the nearby school shooting victims and the escalating gun control debate.
Trump has focused his comments on mental health, rather than guns.
The White House said Sunday the president will host a "listening session" with students and teachers this week, but offered no details on who would attend or what would be discussed.
from CBC | Top Stories News http://ift.tt/2HvcNVZ
http://ift.tt/2GqyFke Source Link
No comments:
Post a Comment