WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration was drafting an executive order that would ban rapid-fire gun bump stocks, part of a free-wheeling, hour-long discussion on school safety with a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House.
Cameras were allowed in to capture Trump’s negotiations with key members of Congress in real time, where he chastised some members of the group for being too “afraid” of the National Rifle Association to take action after past mass shootings and positioned himself as the person to finally herald legislation that could tighten America’s background checks system.
The first step starts with Trump himself, he said Wednesday, when he promised to “essentially, write [bump stocks] out” with an executive order, instructing lawmakers that they won’t have to include the measure in future gun and school safety legislation coming out of the Hill. “The lawyers” are working on this executive order “right now,” he said.
“Shortly,” Trump assured of bump stocks, “that’ll be gone.”
The move comes just over a week after Trump directed his attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to propose regulations that ban bump stocks and similar devices “that turn legal weapons into machine guns.”
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When Trump first announced the move, Trump called the new regulations “critical” and predicted they’d be finalized by the Department of Justice soon. That Trump is now undertaking this effort himself after delegating it to the DOJ is notable, as Trump has been critical of Sessions on Twitter recently for the way he’s handled other issues.
But regardless of who does the regulating, questions still stand about if the move is legal.
Trump’s is not the first administration to look at bump stocks — something he pointed out in a memo to the DOJ earlier this month.
“Although the Obama administration repeatedly concluded that particular bump stock type devices were lawful to purchase and possess, I sought further clarification of the law restricting fully automatic machine guns,” a memo from the White House to the DOJ on bump stocks stated.
The Obama administration did not regulate bump stocks in the aftermath of the deadly shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2013, but that was because the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives decided at the time that it could not legally regulate bump stocks. Trump’s administration may be trying to come at the issue with an executive order, but it’s unclear how they will avoid similar questions about the legality of such an action.
This latest push to regulate bump stocks comes in response to America’s deadliest mass shooting in Las Vegas last year, where a gunman used bump stocks to kill 58 people.
Trump has called for action in recent weeks on school safety in the wake of a shooting at a Parkland, Fla. high school — repeatedly advocating for “hardening” schools and arming some gun-adept teachers to deter would-be shooters from attacking schools. He has also floated giving teachers who can carry guns in classrooms “a little bit of a bonus.”
While Trump has expressed support for concealed carry in schools, he threw cold water on similar measures when Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., pressed for them Wednesday. The president urged lawmakers to huddle together to create one bill on guns and school safety, explaining that he didn’t think a bill with background checks could pass if a concealed carry component was attached to it.
Throughout the president’s numerous conversations with stakeholders in the gun control and school safety debate, he has reminded of his close ties to the National Rifle Association — even if some of his proposals, like an rise in the age limit for those able to purchase semi-automatic weapons, buck their desires.
Trump had lunch with top officials from the NRA this past weekend, during which he says he told them “it’s time. We gotta stop this nonsense. It’s time.” It’s unclear, however, what proposals he told them it was “time” for.
“They have great power over you people, they have less power over me,” Trump told lawmakers Wednesday. However, Trump believes the NRA is “there” and “want[ing] to do what’s right” on guns in the aftermath of the latest school shooting to shake America.