Trump open to gun background check reforms

WASHINGTON—The White House said Monday that President Donald Trump is open to discussing ways to improve the federal gun background check system in the wake of last week’s deadly school shooting in South Florida. “While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. She added that the president spoke with Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on Friday about bipartisan legislation to improve the criminal background check process for gun purchases. The White House statement comes just days after 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz opened fire at a high school in Parkland, Fla., and killed 17 people. Lawmakers and some parents who lost their children in the shooting urged leaders to use this opportunity to reform U.S. gun laws. So far Democrats have led the charge to debate gun reforms, but some Republicans are showing interest. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., on Sunday called on the GOP to bring gun bills to the floor for debate. “There are a lot of Republicans who are prepared to support reasonable, common sense gun safety laws,” he told ABC. “We’ve kind of inherited this world of binary choices where we either have to repeal the Second Amendment or have no gun safety regulations whatsoever, and younger generations of Americans don’t see the world that way.” Over the weekend, Trump chided the FBI and Democrats for not doing more to prevent the Florida shooting. He tweeted the FBI was spending too much time on the investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 presidential election and missed warning signs of the impending school shooting. FBI Director Christopher Wray admitted Friday the agency did not properly follow up on a tip about Cruz before the shooting. Regarding gun control legislation, the president said, “Just like they don’t want to solve the DACA problem, why didn’t the Democrats pass gun control legislation when they had both the House & Senate during the Obama Administration. Because they didn’t want to, and now they just talk!”