Trump Administration ‘Working with Joe Manchin’ for Gun Control Legislation

President Trump told reporters over the weekend the administration is “working with [Sen.] Joe Manchin” regarding the current gun control push.

Trump mentioned this just before boarding Marine One on Sunday morning.

He was responding to a question on background checks when he said, “We’re working with Joe Manchin, the senator, and we’re working with [Sen.] Pat Toomey.”

Manchin and Toomey pushed universal background checks in the wake of the December 14, 2012, attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School. That tragedy was carried out with stolen guns, so universal background checks would have done nothing to prevent it from occurring. Yet Manchin and Toomey’s gun control push was the central Democrat response to the shooting.

During an April 14, 2013, appearance on CBS News’ Face the Nation Manchin admitted his universal background check bill would not have prevented the Sandy Hook attack.

Sen. Toomey intimated the same thing, saying, “I acknowledge, there’s no single bill that is a panacea for [gun crime], nothing guarantees that a committed criminal isn’t going to find a way to get a gun.”

On September 18, 2019, Breitbart News reported a White House / DOJ memo covering ideas for gun control. The memo focused on expanding background checks “consistent with the Manchin-Toomey-draft legislation.”

This includes “a background check requirement…extended to all commercial sales, including sales at gun shows.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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.