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Reveal NRA's Influence

Trump Retreats, Again, on Guns

By The New York Times Editorial Board

21 August 19

Where is the president’s vaunted independence?

resident Trump and his followers delight in his image as a disrupter — a dauntless fighter raring to take on entrenched political interests and sacred cows. But when it comes to addressing America’s gun problem, Mr. Trump has proved both conventional and weak. As the shock fades of this month's back-to-back massacres in Texas and Ohio, he is poised to disappoint yet again.

On Tuesday, The Atlantic reported that Mr. Trump had assured Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association, that he is no longer considering universal background checks. Mr. LaPierre subsequently tweeted praise for Mr. Trump, who he said “supports our right to keep and bear arms.”

By now, the president’s response to gun violence is familiar: In the first raw days after a mass shooting, he answers the public outcry with a pledge to muscle timid lawmakers into action. Following the Parkland shooting last year, Mr. Trump started a brief, high-profile push for “comprehensive” reform, hosting a televised meeting with a bipartisan coterie of lawmakers in which he publicly mocked members of his party for being “afraid of the N.R.A.” and touted his independence from the gun lobby. “They have great power over you people,” he said. “They have less power over me.”

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