Schumer asks President Trump to Give GOP ‘Political Cover’ on Gun Control

On Monday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asked President Trump to provide “political cover” for Republicans who will not otherwise support gun control.

He said this during a press conference in which he announced that he and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sent a letter to Trump regarding gun control.

Schumer continued:

President Trump has an historic opportunity to save lives by indicating his support for the House-passed bill [H.R. 8]. Speaker Pelosi and I have repeatedly and personally asked him to do this.”

…

[President Trump] can lead his party to support something that the NRA has prevented Republicans from supporting for years. That is why Speaker Pelosi and I sent the letter to him today, urging him to give his party political cover to pass…[the] background check legislation.

Pelosi commented after Schumer, explaining that universal background checks are the next step in the Democrats’ ongoing push for background check gun control. Pelosi explained that the gun control bill was named H.R. 8 “because it was eight years from the time Gabby Giffords’ town meeting was assaulted.”

As she bemoaned online gun sales, person to person sales, and shows, Pelosi never mentioned that the man who opened fire at Giffords’ town meeting acquired his gun via a background check. In fact, nearly every mass shooter of the last 12 years acquired his gun via a background check.

Pelosi also failed to note that online gun sales are already covered by law, inasmuch as a store that sells a gun online must then ship that gun to a federally licensed gun dealer. That dealer, in turn, must conduct a background check on the buyer before allowing the buyer to take possession.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.