During an interview with Fox News Channel’s Ed Henry that aired Thursday on “Fox & Friends,” President Donald Trump addressed congressional efforts to pass gun legislation.
Trump said 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) was “part of the problem” by threatening gun confiscation, which was making it less likely for members of Congress to act on guns because of a perceived “slippery slope.”
Partial transcript as follows:
ED HENRY, FOX NEWS: Guns, we’re told that your Justice Department, a couple weeks ago, gave you a package, a legislative package, you might move on it Thursday. What are you going to do?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, we’re not moving on anything. We’re going very slowly in one way, because we want to make sure it’s right. We want to — we’re doing a very careful job. We’re working with the Democrats, we’re working with Republicans. Our Attorney General has done a fantastic job in so many ways, he’s also in on it and he’s looking at it and looking at it very —
HENRY: But you know what Beto O’Rourke and other Democrat — Beto O’Rourke, today, said you have blood on your hands, because there were all these deadly shootings and that you can’t wait, you’ve got to move, he says.
TRUMP: Part of the problem that we have is because of Beto O’Rourke’s statement about taking away guns.
HENRY: Yes.
TRUMP: All of the — a lot of Republicans and some Democrats now are afraid to do anything, to go down that slippery slope. A lot of people think this is just a way of taking away guns and that’s not good, because we’re not going to allow that. Look, I’m a very strong believer in the Second Amendment. You are too.
HENRY: We know that.
TRUMP: But, I’m a very strong believer in the Second Amendment, we’re going to protect our Second Amendment, we have plenty of ideas. But, we’re going to make sure those ideas work.
HENRY: But, you like to Tweet that you’ve got about 95 percent support in the Republican Party, which you do.
TRUMP: I do.
HENRY: So, are you willing to stand up to the NRA and other Republicans and say, look, we’re going to meet — we’re going to do something?
TRUMP: I am, if it’s not going to hurt a good, solid, great American citizen from keeping his weapon because they want that and they are entitled to that. We have a Second Amendment. I don’t want to have crazy people have guns, I don’t want to have bad people have guns, but we’re going to do nothing to hurt the Second Amendment, and what we want to do is see if we can come up with a compromise and that’s what we’re working on.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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