Members of the House of Representatives react to Supreme Court striking down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, a rapid-fire gun accessory that was used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history in Las Vegas.Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks with reporters at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Washington, as from left, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo.
At a meeting with survivors and family members of the Parkland shooting in 2018, for instance, Trump promised to be “very strong on background checks” and laterfor being “afraid of the NRA.” He claimed he would stand up to the gun lobby and finally get results on quelling gun violence.
President Joe Biden called the Trump-era ban “an important gun safety regulation,” while the Democratic incumbent’s campaign criticized Trump for nominating three of the Supreme Court justices who voted to strike down the ban. U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie is a Kentucky Republican who has antagonized Trump and who supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ failed bid for the White House. On Friday, he posted on X that “Congress makes the laws, not the administrative branch” and then wrote the top court had invalidated “Trump’s bump-stock ban.” Other Republican federal lawmakers simply called it an “unconstitutional” ban but did not mention Trump.