The White House on Monday defended its proposal to boost school safety amid criticism over President Trump’s omission of an immediate change to the age limit for purchasing certain firearms.
Press secretary Sarah Sanders said the administration is working proactively to address the issue of gun violence at schools by taking executive action and endorsing consensus legislation, while White House officials continue to review policies that might have a better chance of implementation at the state level.
“What [Trump] is pushing for are things that can be immediately accomplished either through the administration or with broad-based bipartisan support,” Sanders said, claiming the president “hasn’t backed away” from changes to age restrictions or universal background checks.
“They’re still outlined in the plan, but he can’t make them happen with a broad stroke of the pen. You can’t just decide that you want laws to pass and it happens,” she said.
In a blueprint released over the weekend, the White House said Trump plans to task a federal panel with examining the impact of increased age restrictions for gun purchases, along with other potential changes to gun laws. Trump told survivors of the Parkland, Fla. shooting last month that he would “go hard” on new rules regarding the age at which Americans can purchase semi-automatic weapons.
Trump stopped short of endorsing new age restrictions in the White House blueprint, after weeks of vacillating between supporting such measures or siding with the National Rifle Association. However, Sanders said the president could still endorse legislation at the federal level that would institute such a change, depending on his administration’s review.
“The president still supports this … and he is looking at the best way to get it through,” she said.
For now, the administration has offered support for two gun-related bills that have been introduced on Capitol Hill: the Fix NICS Act, which aims to close existing loopholes for gun background checks, and the STOP School Violence Act, which would authorize $50 million a year for a series of school safety-related initiatives.
Trump himself has also talked about “hardening schools” by increasing the presence of security personnel and allowing faculty members to conceal carry in their classrooms.
“The president is going to be the lead on school safety. He certainly has been since this process began, and he’s going to continue to lead on it as we move forward,” Sanders said on Monday.
