In what may well be a preview of the theme he'll emphasize Friday as keynote speaker a the NRA conference in Houston, former President Donald Trump has reiterated his staunch defense of the constitutional right to bear arms, Newsweek reported.
As per Newsweek, Trump called in to Sebastian Gorka's "America First" radio show on Thursday and emphasized that the Second Amendment is crucial to America.
"On Friday night I'll be in Houston, and we'll be making a speech and discussing a lot of the things ... you have to protect. You have to protect your Second Amendment. You have to give that Second Amendment great protection because without it we would be a very dangerous country, frankly," Trump said.
The NRA conference and Trump's impending speech have become subjects of intense focus since Tuesday, when 19 children and two teachers were killed in the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The killings renewed demands for federal gun control legislation, which has encountered Republican opposition after other mass shootings. Advocates of gun reform also had pressed for the NRA to postpone, cancel, or relocate its event, and for prominent figures like Trump to cancel scheduled appearances.
On the same day as Trump's remarks on Gorka's show, the Senate's ranking Republican, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, said he had directed Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn to talk to two Democratic counterparts, Arizona's Kyrsten Sinema and Connecticut's Chris Murphy, as well as "others who are interested in trying to get an outcome that is directly related to the problem" of gun violence, according to CNN.
McConnell added, "I am hopeful that we could come up with a bipartisan solution," the Newsweek report said.
Lawmakers are reported to be discussing options including so-called red flag laws, which allow officials to temporarily bar someone from possessing a firearm if there is evidence he or she poses a danger to self or others.
More Republicans are said to be entertaining the concept, though it's far from clear whether Democrats would have sufficient support to overcome the 60-vote threshold for avoiding a filibuster in the Senate.
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