President Trump made clear Wednesday that he is moving forward with certain gun controls despite NRA opposition.
CNN quoted Trump saying, “Half of you are so afraid of the NRA. And you know what? There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
A senior administration official confirmed that the big sticking point between Trump and the NRA is Trump’s plan to raise the minimum age for rifle purchases from 18-years old 21-years old. But the White House did caveat that intention by suggesting the increased age may only be on “certain firearms.”
Either way, the NRA opposes it, and NRA leadership made this clear during meetings with Trump over the weekend.
But Trump remains determined. In addition to raising the minimum age for long gun purchases Trump is also rallying behind new gun laws for our background check system. These new laws were put forth by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and John Cornyn (R-TX), in legislation called “Fix NICS.” The legislation was introduced after the Air Force failed to report the Texas church shooter’s criminal conviction to the background check system, thus allowing him to legally acquire a gun.
Ironically, while Trump’s support Cornyn’s action on background checks, Cornyn is not excited about Trump’s effort to raise the minimum age for long gun purchases. Cornyn doubts whether raising the minimum age for long gun purchases would save lives.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.