Trump Signals Openness to Changes in Background Checks for Guns

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump told No. 2 Republican Senator John Cornyn that he’s open to improving the federal background check system for gun purchases as U.S. officials continue investigating the country’s latest mass shooting at a school.

“The President spoke to Senator Cornyn on Friday about the bipartisan bill he and Sen. Murphy introduced to improve Federal Compliance with Criminal Background check Legislation,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Monday. “While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the Federal background check system.”

The carefully worded statement comes days after a school shooting in Parkland, Florida left 17 people dead, a tragedy that has revived debate about national gun laws. The FBI disclosed that it failed to follow up on a detailed warning about the 19-year-old suspected gunman, and police said they had received more than 20 calls about him in the past few years, according to the Associated Press.

The White House statement stops short of an endorsement of the proposal introduced in November 2017 by Cornyn and Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, aimed at improving reporting of information by federal and state authorities into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is used to verify the criminal history of gun buyers.

The measure, introduced after a mass shooting in Las Vegas last October -- the deadliest by an individual in U.S. history -- has stalled in Congress. Trump, who campaigned on loosening gun laws during his 2016 presidential bid, has not supported any new limits to gun ownership while in office.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sahil Kapur in Washington at skapur39@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Paul Cox

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