The White House said Thursday that President Trump does not support a ban on “assault weapons.”
Democrats are calling on lawmakers to enact a ban on semi-automatic weapons that have been fashioned to fire more rapidly, like the AR-15 that was used to kill 17 students at a high school in Florida last week.
The president once supported a ban on “assault weapons,” but White House press secretary Raj Shah said it is not something the president is considering at this point.
“He campaigned for president and was opposed to the assault weapons ban, and his position hasn’t changed on that,” Shah said.
Writing in his 2000 book “The America We Deserve,” Trump said that too many Republicans “walk the NRA line and refuse even limited restrictions on gun purchases.”
In that book, Trump also tied the U.S. murder rate to the availability of guns and supported a ban on “assault weapons.”
Trump changed his position on the issue during the 2016 campaign, warning that Democrats are looking to confiscate guns and vowing to be a fierce defender of gun rights.
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