House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) on Thursday said that she was "encouraged" by President Donald Trump's comments during the prior day's bipartisan White House meeting on gun-control measures, a response to the recent mass shooting in Parkland, Florida.
"Ninety-seven percent of Americans support requiring background checks for all gun buys, including almost the same percentage among gun owners," said Pelosi during her weekly press briefing. "There's a common sense bipartisan path forward. Yesterday, we were encouraged by what President Trump had to say."
Pelosi went on to talk about the Democratic Gun Violence Prevention Task Force and its members, Reps. Elizabeth Esty (D., Conn.), Stephanie Murphy (D., Fla), and Ted Deutsch (D., Fla.), all of whom have experienced mass shootings in their districts. The task force submitted a report following the bipartisan meeting.
"The president agreed that we need to ban bump stocks. He thinks he can do it by executive order. I don't think so. I think it needs to be done legislatively, but we agree they should be banned," Pelosi said, citing conclusions fount in the report.
"Once again the president has had a public meeting with members of Congress. The three that I mentioned from the House directly affected by tragic events in their own districts, or in their own areas. We hope that we can proceed in a bipartisan way to get the most effective package forward" Pelosi added.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) pushed back against some of Trump's comments at the meeting, saying it did not support the new gun control measures that were proposed by the president and Democratic lawmakers.
"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," Jennifer Baker, a spokesperson for the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, told the Washington Free Beacon. "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."