A White House spokesman declined to say whether President Obama is encouraged by Donald Trump’s willingness to consider whether people on the terrorist watch list should be barred from buying firearms and that he will be meeting with the National Rifle Association to discuss that stance.
“The last thing I would want to do is assess the sincerity of that effort — our focus right now is on the United States Senate,” Eric Schultz, White House deputy press secretary, told reporters traveling with the president to Orlando on Air Force One.
Schultz also said it unclear whether Republicans “can muster the courage to stand up” to the NRA but so far they have not, although they have acknowledged the ground seems to be shifting in Congress in the wake of the Orlando terrorist attack, the deadliest mass shooting in the country’s history.
He then cited a series of gun violence statistics, noting that there are 30,000 gun deaths in America each year, and that more than 20,000 children under the age of 18 and more than 500 law enforcement officials have been killed by firearms over the past decade.
“Maybe those realities will finally sink in to Republicans and they will support some of the common sense gun safety legislation the president has been championing for years,” he said.
Obama, he said, would like to ban gun purchases for those on the no-fly list, renew the assault weapons ban, make universal background checks mandated by law, and give federal law enforcement officials additional resources to help them enforce existing laws.
Trump on Wednesday tweeted that he would be discussing the issue of banning suspected terrorists on the “no-fly” list from purchasing a gun. If he’s in favor of the ban, that could put him in conflict with GOP leaders in Congress and the National Rifle Association who tend to support bills that would ensure the due process of any person suspected of terrorist ties.
During the trip to Orlando Thursday, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will meet with survivors and families members of those who died Sunday in the Orlando attack, as well as first responders who helped save dozens of lives.
The president is scheduled to offer “a few personal reflections” but will not give an expansive speech, Schultz said.
The details of the trip are still somewhat loose because it came together quickly in the aftermath of the attack and Obama and Biden didn’t want to do anything that would overtax local law enforcement officials already strained by the attack, Schultz said.
Obama and Biden wanted to get there quickly to convey that “Americans stand should-to-shoulder” with the people of central Florida.
“There’s no more tangible way to show support than by traveling to the city where this horrific incident occurred,” Schultz said.
