Florida students who returned to school two weeks after a mass shooting say they were haunted by fresh memories, but heartened by an outpouring of…
Florida students who returned to school two weeks after a mass shooting say they were haunted by fresh memories, but heartened by an outpouring of support.
(AP Photo/Terry Renna). Students wait to cross the street after their first day back at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Wednesday, Feb. 28,2018. The students were greeted Wednesday morning by police officers carrying military…
NASA has launched another of the world’s most advanced weather satellites, this time to watch over the Pacific and western US.
(United Launch Alliance/NASA via AP). This undated photo provided by the United Launch Alliance via NASA shows a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NOAA’s GOES-S satellite waits for liftoff on Thursday, March 1,2018, from Space Launch Comp…
Records obtained by The Associated Press show Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens used an email address for a veterans charity he founded to arrange political meetings as he prepared to launch his first bid for public office.
(AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File). FILE – In this Jan. 29,2018 file photo, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens speaks in Palmyra, Mo. Missouri lawmakers are returning to the Statehouse for the first time Monday, Feb. 26,2018 since Greitens was indicted, with pl…
Jury selection is scheduled to begin in the trial of the widow of the gunman who police say killed dozens at a Florida nightclub.
Former Tennessee school bus driver found guilty of six counts of criminally negligent homicide in wreck that killed six children.
(Erin O. Smith/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP). In this Wednesday, Feb. 28,2018 photo, Johnthony Walker testifies during his trial in Judge Don Poole’s courtroom at the Hamilton County Courthouse in Chattanooga, Tenn. Walker, a Tennessee school b…
The rift between corporate American and the gun lobby is growing.
(Photo by Scott Dalton/Invision for DICK’S Sporting Goods/AP Images). In this Oct. 18,2016, photo, Chairman and CEO of DICK’S Sporting Goods Edward W. Stack poses for a photo as he visits a new store at the Baybrook Mall in the Houston. Stack is issui…
When a gunshot was fired from a classroom in the north Georgia mountains and police identified the gunman as a teacher, it immediately pierced the national debate over whether educators should be armed.
(Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office via AP). This undated photo provided by the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office shows Jesse Randal Davidson. Social studies teacher Davidson barricaded himself inside a classroom at Dalton High School in Dalton, Ga., We…
A New York City nanny accused of stabbing two small children to death in the bathroom of their Manhattan apartment is heading to trial.
(Susan Watts/The Daily News via AP, File). FILE- In this March 8,2013 file photo, Yoselyn Ortega, center, charged with the stabbing deaths of two small children under her care, is escorted to her seat for her first court appearance in New York. Openin…
The Georgia Senate approved a sweeping tax bill Thursday that punishes Delta Air Lines for cutting business ties with the National Rifle Association.
(Bob Andres/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP). Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Gov. Deal’s chief of staff Chris Riley confer in the senate before the senate went into recess and the Rules Committee stripped the Delta tax cut from legislation. Gov. Nathan D…
Novel proposals to ramp up school security are flying fast as districts respond to heightened safety fears in the aftermath of the shooting in Parkland, Florida.
(Claire Crouch/Lex18News via AP). This Feb. 21,2018 photo made available by Lex18 News, shows a group protesting school safety in Laurel County, KY. In the wake of a mass shooting at a Florida high school, parents and educators are mobilizing to deman…
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster). Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., looks to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. V., during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 28,2018, with President Donald Trump and members of congress to discuss schoo…
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster). From left, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. V., and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., participate in a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 28,2018…
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster). President Donald Trump pauses during a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House, in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 28,2018, with members of congress to discuss school and community safety.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Action on gun legislation skidded to a halt Thursday in Congress – not for a lack of bipartisan proposals, but because President Donald Trump’s stunning shift on gun policy left some in his party confused, irritated and scrambling to figure out what to do next.
Republicans squirmed over Trump’s call for stricter gun laws after the assault on a Florida high school, while Democrats seized on the opening to reach beyond a modest measure gaining traction in Congress. They unveiled a more ambitious priority list, with expanded background checks and even a politically risky ban on assault weapons.
Without a clear path forward for any legislation, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell shelved the gun debate, for now, saying the Senate would turn next week to other measures. McConnell had been preparing to push ahead with an incremental proposal from Sens. John Cornyn and Chris Murphy, but even that measure faced some GOP opposition.
« I’m hoping there’s a way forward, » he told reporters.
Congress is under pressure to act after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting last month that left 17 dead. Lawmakers had been making incremental progress on a bill to boost participation in the existing federal background check bill.
But after Trump’s pronouncements this week, that legislation hardly mattered. Trump panned the bipartisan bill as little more than a building block for the « beautiful » and « comprehensive » legislation he envisioned would protect Americans from mass shootings.
« Many ideas, some good & some not so good, » Trump tweeted Thursday, singling out background checks. « After many years, a bill should emerge. »
Trump suggested – but did not declare – his support for a more sweeping background check bill that would require review of firearm purchases online and at gun shows. The measure, from Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., has found new momentum since it was first introduced after the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that left 20 children dead.
The president reached out to Toomey on Thursday, after the senator endured the brunt of Trump’s public criticism of lawmakers as « afraid » of the National Rifle Association, and encouraged him to pursue the bill.
The senator told Trump his backing would be needed to build support. « He wants to be helpful, » Toomey told The Associated Press.
Amid the shifting debate, the president convened yet another meeting on school safety, this time with school shooting survivors and family members of victims, and the White House considered releasing the president’s list of legislative priorities.
Beyond background checks, the president wants to use an executive order to bar the use of bump stock devices that enable guns to fire like automatic weapons.
