WASHINGTON -- The White House appeared to soften its tone on gun-control measures Friday after President Donald Trump met privately with officials from the National Rifle Association the night before.
Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday that the White House is still deliberating on what type of proposals it will support in the wake of the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., in which 17 people were killed. She said Trump still supports raising the age limit to buy assault-style rifles from 18 to 21 but added that he understands there is "not a lot of broad support" for such a proposal.
"I think he thinks it would probably have more potential in the states than it would at the federal level," Sanders told reporters at the White House. On background checks, she said, Trump does not necessarily support universal checks "but certainly improving the background-check system. He wants to see what that legislation, the final piece of it, looks like. 'Universal' means something different to a lot of people."
Trump tweeted Thursday evening about the meeting, which was not listed on his public schedule. "Good (Great) meeting in the Oval Office tonight with the NRA!" he wrote.
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Friday capped a week of conflicting signals from Trump and the White House on what the president wants to do in response to the shootings in Florida, which has led to confusion over what policies he wants Congress to advance.
Trump shocked lawmakers from both parties Wednesday during an hourlong, televised meeting at the White House in which he voiced support for far stricter gun-control measures -- which he envisioned being rolled into one "beautiful" and "comprehensive" bill -- than most Republicans appear willing to support. At one point, he accused lawmakers of being "scared of the NRA."
On Thursday, he outlined some of his preferences via Twitter, saying both good and bad ideas had come out of the bipartisan meeting. He wrote: "Background Checks a big part of conversation. Gun free zones are proven targets of killers. After many years, a Bill should emerge. Respect 2nd Amendment!"
Earlier in the week, he had said he wants to arm some teachers and school staff members with weapons to help fight back against perpetrators.
The varying, unclear proposals led Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to shelve the gun debate, saying Thursday that the Senate will turn next week to other measures.
On Friday, Sanders sought to downplay the idea that Trump has not been consistent about what he wants.
She said Trump supports a bill from Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., that would require federal and state agencies to report relevant criminal history records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. Trump called Cornyn on Thursday to reiterate his support for that bill, according to a person familiar with the call.
Sen. Jeff Flake, underscoring the lingering confusion, said that when it comes to immigration and gun issues, "sometimes you don't know where he's going to end up. You don't know if it'll be the Tuesday Trump or the Thursday Trump.
"People are concerned about that," said Flake, an Arizona Republican and occasional critic of the president who is retiring after 2018.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., challenged Trump to "go with his instincts" on stricter gun-control measures, "not the clarion and destructive call of the NRA."
Schumer wrote in a statement that Trump "knows instinctively that this is the right thing to do both substantively, because it will save tens of thousands of lives, and politically, because over three-quarters of the American people support it. If he continues to bow to his right-wing ringmasters, we will get nothing done on guns and his presidency will continue to fail."
But Murphy praised Trump for engaging in the debate and entertaining ideas that have traditionally been taboo for most Republicans.
"Trump may not end up leading Congressional Republicans to water on guns, but his willingness to buck the gun lobby in public, rule out the NRA agenda, and talk up background checks, has changed this debate nationally," he tweeted.
The NRA has come under intense public pressure since the Florida shooting. Companies including Symantec Corp., Hertz Global Holdings Inc., Avis Budget Group Inc. and MetLife Inc. have cut marketing or other ties to the group.
Asked whether Trump made any promises to the NRA officials during their meeting, Sanders replied: "Only that he'll continue to support the Second Amendment. That's not something that he's backed away from."
NRA Executive Director Chris Cox, who attended the meeting, echoed that sentiment on Twitter.
"I had a great meeting tonight with realDonaldTrump & VP. We all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don't want gun control. #NRA #MAGA," he wrote.
Sanders said Friday that Trump believes that raising age limits to buy guns would have "more potential in the states than it would at the federal level." And she said Trump will continue to talk with lawmakers.
"He wants to help move the ball down the field, so he's going to keep having calls with a number of different members on how we can do that," she said.
Murphy predicted Friday that the White House would "bob and weave" on guns.
Still, he wrote on Twitter, "Trump's instinct on this issue is not wrong -- if his party doesn't get behind background checks soon, they're cooked in 2018 and 2020."
Meanwhile, a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity said Trump and Pence had discussed a proposal supported by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., that would create gun-violence restraining orders at the federal level.
The official said a comment Trump made at the Wednesday meeting -- suggesting firearms should be confiscated from potentially dangerous people without a court's approval -- was likely a reference to such a bill. The comment hit a nerve with gun-rights enthusiasts, who raised concerns about Trump's respect for the concept of due process.
Rubio's proposal, which doesn't have formal White House backing, would allow law enforcement officials and family members to obtain court orders to restrict gun access for people deemed a threat.
The White House official said Rubio's proposal would allow guns to be taken away even before a legal process fully runs its course. Those who had their gun rights restricted under a restraining order would have the opportunity to appeal the court ruling after surrendering their firearms, the official said.
House Democrats introduced a similar proposal in May, modeled on gun restraining order initiatives in Connecticut, California, Indiana and other states that include an appeal process. The bill received renewed attention last week as well as its first GOP co-sponsor, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who's a former FBI agent.
"This is a common-sense bill," Fitzpatrick said Tuesday. "I'm expecting more Republicans to sign on."
As part of Trump's efforts to consider various responses to gun violence, next week he plans to host members of the video-game industry. He has repeatedly referred to the violence in movies and video games during conversations about guns and school safety since the Florida shooting.
Sanders said invitations started going out Thursday and event details were being finalized. The Entertainment Software Association, a trade group that represents the video-game industry, said Friday that the group and its members had not been invited.
Nicole Hockley, who lost a child in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, has attended two White House meetings with Trump and said she remained optimistic.
"By listening to President Trump's words I do feel he is committed to finding a way forward and he is committed to putting a plan together," she said. "I don't know what the content will be."
Information for this article was contributed by David Nakamura of The Washington Post; by Catherine Lucey, Lisa Mascaro and Matthew Daly of The Associated Press; and by Toluse Olorunnipa, Anna Edgerton, Greg Stohr, Laura Litvan, Justin Sink, Sahil Kapur and Terrence Dopp of Bloomberg News.
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