President Donald Trump[1]’s positions on guns and school safety appeared to shift following a surprise meeting with the National Riffle Association[2] on Thursday night.
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Add Donald Trump as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Donald Trump news, video, and analysis from ABC News.Good (Great) meeting in the Oval Office tonight with the NRA!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
The meeting came one day after he had expressed his support for a number of measures on guns that put him at odds with the gun lobby during a freewheeling meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday.
On Friday morning, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the president continues to "conceptually" support the idea of raising the minimum age of purchase on assault rifles, but suggested that the president was in favor of leaving the matter up to the states.
"I think he thinks it would probably have more potential at the states than it would at the federal level," Sanders said, noting that the president realizes that “there's not a lot of broad support for” raising the minimum purchase age.
But on Wednesday, when the president urged lawmakers not to be afraid of going up against the NRA on the issue and accused Sen. Pat Toomey[4], R-Penn., of being “afraid of the NRA” because his previously proposed legislation calling for expanding background checks on nearly all gun purchases, and co-sponsored by Sen. Joe Manchin[5], D-West Virginia, does not address the age minimum.
“I'm a big fan of the NRA … but that doesn't mean we have to agree on everything. It doesn't make sense that I have to wait until I'm 21 to get a handgun but I can get this weapon at 18,” Trump said on Wednesday, as he pressed Toomey on why his legislation doesn't address the issue.
“You know why? Because you're afraid of the NRA, right?” Trump said to Toomey.
Following his previously unannounced meeting with the NRA on Thursday, President Trump took to Twitter to declare the meeting a success.
The NRA’s top lobbyist went further in his readout of the meeting, suggesting that the organization was on the same page with the president and vice president in their opposition to gun control measures.
I had a great meeting tonight with @realDonaldTrump & @VP. We all want safe schools, mental health reform and to keep guns away from dangerous people. POTUS & VPOTUS support the Second Amendment, support strong due process and don’t want gun control. #NRA #MAGA[6][7][8][9]
— Chris Cox (@ChrisCoxNRA)
The president had also seemed to clearly support requiring expanding background checks on gun purchases in Wednesday's meeting. But on Friday, Sanders said that the president is