Top GOP senator says Trump needs to ‘step up’ in gun debate
Sen. Roy Blunt, a member of the Senate’s Republican leadership, called on President Donald Trump Sunday to make clear what he would back gun control legislation.
“What (Senate Leader Mitch McConnell) said this week, I think maybe it’s the second time he said this, is we’re not going to vote on bills on the Senate floor that the President is not willing to sign. The President needs to step up here and set some guidelines for what he would do,” Blunt, a Missouri Republican who serves as the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, said.”
The Republican-controlled Senate, led by McConnell, has not yet indicated it will take action on a gun bill of any kind in the wake of a recent series of mass shootings in the US. Last week, following a West Texas shooting that killed seven people, McConnell, who is facing serious pressure by congressional Democrats to take action on the issue, said he will not put any gun bills on the Senate floor unless Trump says he would sign it into law.
In previous comments, Trump has not made clear what kind of measure he would support. Trump said background checks would not have stopped the mass shootings that have irritated the US over the past few years, and declared gun violence primarily a mental health issue.
Blunt, who also serves as the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, told that he’s worried Congress will “take this silly ‘if we don’t get everything we won’t do anything'” approach to the issue, and that there should be particular action taken on legislation concerning mental health.
