Trump's real talk on gun control is sparking a far-right civil war

By proposing to take away guns from people with mental problems and raising the age to buy an AR-15 to 21 at his televised roundtable on Wednesday, President Trump was trying to find consensus on guns. Instead he started a civil war in his own party.

On one side are some more moderate Republican senators, some of whom have proposed expanded background checks and could get behind an age minimum of 21 for assault rifles. On the other are conservative Republicans and far-right political pundits who are scorching the airwaves in response, some suggesting the president is doomed in 2020 if he doesn’t back off entirely.

“Is anyone OK with this, because I’m sure as hell not,” tweeted Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. “I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Speak up.”

Instead of uniting lawmakers to pass what the president called “comprehensive” gun legislation in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting that left 17 people dead last month, his comments appear to be hardening their pro-gun views, and potentially dooming gun control legislation.

In a rare hallway interview, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky told an NBC reporter that he won’t bring up gun control legislation next week, effectively bringing the issue to a standstill.

That’s a small win for the far-right media world and NRA-backed legislators who have been criticizing the president’s comments since Wednesday’s meeting.

“We have the Second Amendment and due process of law for a reason,” Nebraska Republican Sen. Benjamin Sasse said Wednesday. “We’re not ditching any Constitutional protections simply because the last person the President talked to today doesn’t like them.”

The right-wing news site Breitbart, thought to be a thermometer on Trump’s base, was not pleased about the comments. Their headline read, “Trump the Gun Grabber: Cedes Dems’ Wish List — Bump Stocks, Buying Age, ‘Assault Weapons,’ Background Checks…”

Fox News host and staunch social conservative Laura Ingraham launched a threat at Trump on Twitter Wednesday.

“If the President @realDonaldTrump dives on the 2nd Am he won’t have to worry abt who runs his 2020 campaign.”

Joe Walsh, a former Republican congressman from Illinois, said Trump would be “toast” if he ever compromised on gun control.

Trump’s ideas have been all over the map. He expressed support for a background check bill that Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey and West Virginia Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin first introduced after the Sandy Hook school shooting that killed 20 elementary school children and six adults in 2013. The bill, which failed with only 54 of the 60 required votes in 2013, would expand background checks to gun show and online gun sales.

He also took pains to point out he’s not beholden to the NRA’s financial support, even though the group spent $30 million to support him in the 2016 election. "They have great power over you people. They have less power over me,” he said.

Read: Trump just called out Republicans for being “petrified” of the NRA

Trump reaffirmed his support for strengthening background checks in a tweet Thursday morning, again publicly opposing the NRA.

NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker reiterated the organization’s dislike for Trump's proposed policies.

"While today's meeting made for great TV, the gun control proposals discussed would make for bad policy that would not keep our children safe," Baker told BuzzFeed News. "Instead of punishing law-abiding gun owners for the acts of a deranged lunatic, our leaders should pass meaningful reforms that would actually prevent future tragedies."

Read: These teachers already carry guns in Florida

At the same time moderate Republicans are trying to distance themselves from the NRA and drum up support for bills they think the president might support.

“They didn't endorse me in my re-election,” Toomey told Fox News Thursday about the NRA. “They haven't given me a dime since 2010. I'm the guy that's stood up to the NRA among Republicans.”

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio announced his proposals for preventing another school shooting on the Senate floor Thursday, including school safety trainings and strengthening the existing background check system. Although he did not go as far as the president did in opposing the NRA, he said he was open to considering a change to the legal age to purchase a gun and limiting magazine power.

“These do not enjoy the widespread support in Congress that the other measures I have said do,” he warned. “Do not hold hostage a piece of legislation that will work and that we all support because it doesn’t have everything you want.”

Alex Thompson contributed reporting.

Cover image: Flanked by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) U.S. President Donald Trump meets with bi-partisan members of Congress to discuss school and community safety in the wake of the Florida school shootings at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 28, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque