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Trump spoke with the leader of the National Rifle Association
lobbying group, Wayne LaPierre, on Tuesday, a White House
official said. Speaking to reporters outside the White House,
Trump said he did not tell LaPierre, whose group strongly
opposes increased gun restrictions, that he would avoid pursuing
measures on background checks.
Trump, who was endorsed by the NRA in the 2016 presidential
race, said he views the number of U.S. gun deaths as a public
health emergency and reiterated his belief that people who are
mentally ill should not be allowed to buy guns.
"We're working on background checks. There are things we can do.
But we already have very serious background checks. We have
strong background checks. We can close up the gaps. We can do
things that are very good and things that frankly gun owners
want to have done," Trump said.
"We have background checks but there are loopholes in the
background checks. And that's what I spoke to the NRA about
yesterday. They want to get rid of the loopholes as well as I
do. At the same time, I don't want to take away people's Second
Amendment rights," Trump added later.
On Tuesday, Trump, a Republican, said his administration was
engaged in meaningful talks with Democrats, who control the U.S.
House of Representatives, about gun legislation after gunmen in
El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, killed 31 people using
semi-automatic rifles and high-volume magazines earlier this
month.
Congressional aides, however, said the discussions have been
low-level and generally unproductive.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by
Jonathan Oatis and Paul Simao)
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