More than a week after two back-to-back mass shootings, conservative backlash against gun control legislation is building, which could keep Congress mired in partisan gridlock on the issue.
Top gun rights groups are pressuring President Trump to hold off on giving his support to two measures lawmakers have proposed in the wake of the shootings in Texas and Ohio that killed more than 31 people and injured dozens.
Trump’s backing would likely be needed to persuade Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to take up a House-passed bill or similar proposal to expand background checks to all firearm purchases, including private and gun show sales.
And the president would have to convince many GOP lawmakers to back a measure incentivizing states to employ “red flag” or extreme risk protection order laws, which would allow law enforcement to seize guns from people deemed harmful to themselves or others.
The National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America, the two largest gun rights organizations, are warning Trump that he risks alienating millions of gun owners who make up an important part of his base if he pushes for either measure to pass in Congress.
“These voters are a really important part of the Trump coalition,” one source familiar with Trump’s conversations with gun rights groups told the Washington Examiner. “Hopefully Trump is attuned to that.”
An Economist/YouGov poll taken last week found that 59% of voters want more strict laws covering the sale of handguns. But most, 80%, are Democrats, while 49% are independents and just 35% are Republicans.
The House, run by Democrats, passed the background check measure in February. The House also passed a second bill that would permit longer wait times for the completion of certain firearm transactions.
Democratic lawmakers are demanding that the Senate clear the two measures for the president’s signature immediately. But McConnell has ignored the bills so far this year and gave no indication last week that he’s willing to consider them. “I want to make a law, not just see this kind of political sparring going on endlessly which never produces a result,” McConnell told WHAS in Louisville last week. “And the way you make a law (right now) is that it has to pass the House, it has to get 60 votes in the Senate, and has to be signed by President Trump.”
Democrats touted the two measures as bipartisan, but GOP support for either bill was scant, amounting to about a dozen Republican votes combined when the two bills passed the House.
The gun rights groups are pressuring Republicans in Congress to reject the background check measures and the red flag proposal despite new demands for increased gun control following the two mass shootings.
Gun Owners of America is calling on its members to write to Senate Republicans to urge them to oppose the legislation.
“We need your help countering the Left’s efforts and turning up the heat on Republican Senators,” they wrote to members last week. “They need to know that America does NOT want these dangerous gun control proposals that will be considered any day now in the Senate!”
They argue red flag laws strip citizens of their constitutional right to own a gun and have led to the death of at least one innocent gun owner in Maryland who was shot and killed when police conducted a “no knock” raid on his home to seize his guns.
“This means SWAT teams would be empowered to show up at innocent Americans’ doorsteps, demanding they fork over their guns, all because they’ve been named a suspected danger to our society,” the GOA said.
The group is vowing to support a primary challenge to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who said he plans to try to advance a red flag measure in his committee next month.
Gun rights groups also oppose universal background checks, arguing they will make it difficult for people to loan or share guns, such as during a hunting trip or at a shooting range, without the risk of breaking the law. Universal background checks would criminalize private gun sales, they said.
The NRA called the background check bill “extreme” and said it “would make criminals out of law-abiding citizens.”
The NRA is pushing for any red flag law to require an individual to be deemed dangerous by a court first and not just accused of being a risk without due process.
Seventeen states have implemented red flag laws, including Maryland, where Anne Arundel County police last year used a court order obtained under the law to raid the Ferndale home of Gary J. Willis, 61, without warning at 5 a.m.
Police said Willis became “irate” when they attempted to serve him with the emergency risk protective order to surrender his guns, which was requested by his sister. Willis picked up a gun. A struggle with the police ensued and an officer shot and killed Willis.
The NRA has long supported removing guns from dangerous individuals, but said many state red flag measures allow gun seizures without adequate adjudication.
“To safeguard the rights of law-abiding gun owners, Extreme Risk Protection Orders at a minimum must include strong due process protections, require treatment, and include penalties against those who make frivolous claims,” NRA spokesperson Catherine Mortensen told the Washington Examiner.
