Attorney General Bill Barr went to the Senate with an “ideas list” of proposals for legislation on gun sales, though President Trump has yet to indicate which, if any, measures he is willing to support.
Seeking common ground
Among the the lawmakers with whom Barr met were Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Patrick J. Toomey (R-PA), sponsors of a failed 2013 bill to require background checks on all gun transfers.
“There’s no question, the heart of the attorney general’s idea is a mechanism for expanding background checks beyond what we have today,” Toomey told The New York Times. “I have colleagues who are open to that so I’m modestly encouraged.”
Manchin sounded positive as well, saying “I personally think the president wants to do something. We would not be this engaged for this long a period of time if he didn’t.”
Toomey went further when speaking to the Washington Examiner, calling the suggestions brought forth by Barr “very thoughtful and creative ideas regarding background checks.”
However, not everyone was so upbeat. In a tweet, Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT) cautioned, “It was a really good discussion. But the fact remains that there is no good deal that the gun lobby will support. Now, the White House has a choice to make.”
Some Republicans are skeptical as well.
Where does the president stand?
The Times quoted Josh Hawley (R-MO) as asking, “My question was: ‘Where is the president on this?’ And I asked this question directly: ‘Is this something the president supports?’ And they didn’t have an answer for that.”
White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley told ABC News that the proposal offered by Barr “is not a White House document and any suggestion to contrary is completely false.”
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz (R-TX) is pitching a proposal of his own that would instead focus on prosecuting those who provide false information during the background check process.
The renewed push for mandatory background checks has come in the wake of a series of high profile mass shootings, however it’s not clear how new legislation would have prevented those recent tragedies from occurring. Both the Dayton and El Paso shooters passed background checks, while the Odessa, Texas killer appears to have purchased an illegally manufactured rifle.
President Trump has focused his attention on attacking Democrat threats to confiscate firearms, tweeting that Beto O’Rourke is a “dummy” for promising to take semi-automatic rifles even from law-abiding Americans.
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