published Mar 11, 2018, 6:45:00 PM, by Jennifer Epstein
(Bloomberg) —

President Donald Trump is calling on states to adopt so-called “red flag” laws to allow authorities to take guns from individuals who are determined by a court to be a threat to themselves or others, according to recommendations released by the White House on Sunday.

The administration will also launch a commission, led by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, to examine school safety issues and will offer assistance through the Department of Justice to train school personnel who volunteer to carry guns in schools.

The proposals were described by the White House as the culmination of weeks of meetings the president and senior officials have held since the Feb. 14 shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 people were killed. That incident has re-energized the gun control debate.

The measures being endorsed by Trump fall short of those that were expected to come from the administration, including a call for states to raise the minimum age to buy certain guns — an idea that White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah endorsed as recently as during a television interview Sunday morning.

Missing Proposal

“The president has been clear that he does support raising the age to 21 for certain firearms,” Shah said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.” On a conference call with reporters, two administration officials didn’t explain why that proposal was excluded.

A preview published Saturday by the Wall Street Journal said that Trump would also call on states to legalize the concealed carrying of guns by trained school personnel. That measure was also left out of the list of actions released on Sunday.

The White House reiterated its support for two pieces of legislation being considered by Congress: the Fix NICS Act, which would penalize federal agencies that fail to report relevant criminal records, and the STOP School Violence Act, which would provide new funding for school safety programs. An administration official said the White House was endorsing those measures because they could both pass in short order, while a bigger background overhaul would have a tougher path in Congress.

Shifting Positions

On background checks and other issues, Trump has offered inconsistent positions on gun control since the Parkland massacre, complicating efforts in Congress to pass legislation in response

Trump voiced support last month for the background check bill sponsored by Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican, and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, while also suggesting that perhaps the bill didn’t go far enough “because you’re afraid of the NRA.”

The National Rifle Association, the powerful gun industry lobbying group that spent $30 million toward Trump’s election, has expressed support for both bills but is resisting more stringent measures.

Trump’s recommendations also fall short of some of the ideas he’d discussed during multiple hour-long meetings in front of news cameras, including a stronger background check system and the suggestion that guns should be taken from people considered dangerous without first seeking a court order.

After the latter statement the president met privately with the NRA, whose leaders said he’d backed down. But Trump is still bucking the NRA in his support for raising the age for some gun sales: Florida last week passed a bill doing just that, and the NRA immediately challenged it in court.

Bump Stocks

The Justice Department on Saturday sent a proposed regulation to the Office of Management and Budget that would prohibit the sale of bump stock devices, which modify semiautomatic rifles to allow them to be fired more rapidly, by adding it to the definition of “machine gun” that’s already barred under the National Firearms and Gun Control Act.

Congress is mostly gridlocked on the issue. Neither chamber has advanced legislation to make any change to gun laws since the shooting at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, even as students who survived the attack have started a burgeoning political movement to raise pressure on lawmakers. Student-led gun control events in Washington and around the country, dubbed the March for Our Lives, are planned for March 24.

Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, is a donor to groups that support gun control, including Everytown for Gun Safety.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Washington at jepstein32@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net Ros Krasny
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