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., Sen Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., listen.
As president, Trump grappled with the high school massacre in Parkland, Florida and other mass shootings, and at times pledged to strengthen gun laws, 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.