Attorney General William Barr said he expects the Trump administration to reach some sort of agreement on gun control with leaders in Congress when they return from summer recess next month.
“Yes, I do have an idea,” Barr said Wednesday in Dallas when a reporter asked about the potential for gun legislation, following a string of deadly mass shootings across the country.
“The president has been consulting broadly, particularly with members of Congress and the leadership on the Hill,” Barr continued. “And when Congress returns from recess, I expect that the administration, as well as leaders on the Hill, will be advancing some proposals.”
President Trump has sent mixed signals in recent days about his support for gun control legislation. After recent massacres in Texas and Ohio, Trump said, “We have to have very meaningful background checks.”
The president appeared to change his stance on Tuesday. “We have very, very strong background checks right now … it is a mental problem, and I’ve said it 100 times, it’s not the gun that pulls the trigger, it’s the person,” Trump said at the White House.
Trump also reportedly told National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre this week he does not support universal background checks. The president claimed he “didn’t say anything” about the issue in the Tuesday phone call.
There has been little appetite among Republican lawmakers for gun control. Only eight GOP members in the House voted in February for a universal background check measure that would ban the sale or transfer of guns from unlicensed dealers.
Some House Democrats will still return early from the summer recess to advance gun control legislation, including a bill banning large ammunition magazines. The House Judiciary Committee announced a Sept. 4 vote on a group of measures aimed at reducing gun violence.
In the upper chamber, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said senators would consider taking up both background check and “red flag” measures when lawmakers return to the capital in September, but did not promise a vote on any particular bill.
