The Second Amendment Foundation’s (SAF) Alan Gottlieb indiciates President Donald Trump has pivoted from any consideration of gun control and is focused on mental health reforms.
Gottlieb, SAF’s founder and executive vice president, told Breitbart News the White House contacted him and informed him that Trump “will only support mental health legislation, no gun control.”
This comes after Trump initially voiced support for expanded background check legislation following mass shootings, only to scale back that support and eventually note that the U.S. already has background checks that are “strong.”
On August 5–two days after the El Paso, Texas, shooting and one day after the Dayton, Ohio, shooting–Trump called for bipartisan action for “strong background checks.” He referenced background checks again on August 7, then appeared to slowly shift away from that position.
On August 19, 2019, Politico reported that Trump noted “we already have a lot of background checks.” And on September 1, 2019, Breitbart News reported Trump saying stronger background checks would not have prevented the high profile firearm-based attacks America has witnessed over the past “six or seven years.”
But Trump’s exact position on the gun control push was still unclear. Now Gottlieb says the White House has assured him that Trump is looking to mental health, not gun control.
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.