![\"Renault\"\/](\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/top-banner-web-renault.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nUS President Donald Trump has stunned lawmakers from both parties by telling them in a live broadcast not to be so \u201cpetrified\u201d of the powerful gun lobby the National Rifle Association (NRA).<\/p>\n
In a break from his party\u2019s stance on gun control, Mr Trump urged lawmakers to come up with a \u201cstrong\u201d reform bill.<\/p>\n
He suggested expanding background checks for gun buyers and raising the legal age to buy rifles to 21 from 18.<\/p>\n
His comments come in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want you to come up with a strong bill \u2013 and really strong on background checks,\u201d Mr Trump told lawmakers at the White House on Wednesday, pushing them to work together on bipartisan legislation.<\/p>\n
He said the NRA has \u201cgreat power over you people\u201d, but that the lobby has \u201cless power over me\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump\u2019s change of tack on gun control left Republicans \u201ca bit unsettled\u201d, CNN reported.<\/p>\n
The Republican party supports the right of individuals to own guns, seeing most restrictions as an infringement of the second amendment to the US constitution, which governs the right to bear arms.<\/p>\n
What does Trump want?<\/h2>\n
\u201cTake the guns first, go through due process second,\u201d Mr Trump said, suggesting police officers be given the power to seize guns from anyone who could pose a threat, including the mentally ill, without a court order.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t wait and play games and nothing gets done,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He called for tighter restrictions on gun sales to young adults and for background checks to be expanded for all weapons purchases, including at gun shows and online.<\/p>\n
The president repeatedly stated his support for increasing armed security at schools, arming teachers and reducing \u201cgun-free zones\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be so beautiful to have one bill that everybody can support, as opposed to \u2013 you know \u2013 15 bills, everybody\u2019s got their own bill,\u201d Mr Trump said.<\/p>\n
He also warned lawmakers against proposing a bill that included concealed carry across the US, a provision that Republicans and the NRA have aimed to include in any gun legislation.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump has already signed an order to ban bump-stock devices, which enable a rifle to shoot hundreds of rounds a minute.<\/p>\n
His latest comments at the hour-long summit with Democrats and Republicans are at odds with a president who has been vocal about protecting the second amendment and has received campaign support from the NRA.<\/p>\n
How have Republicans reacted?<\/h2>\n
Many Republican lawmakers distanced themselves from Mr Trump\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not ditching any constitutional protections simply because the last person the president talked to today doesn\u2019t like them,\u201d said Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who was not at the meeting.<\/p>\n
Florida Senator Marco Rubio said the proposed reforms might not have prevented the school attack in his state in which 17 people were killed, which was not \u201cconducted by someone who bought a gun at a gun show or parking lot\u201d.<\/p>\n
John Cornyn, the top Senate Republican who sat next to the president at the meeting, said he thought it was \u201cfascinating television\u201d but that it was \u201csurreal to actually be there\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump\u2019s statements on gun control have changed before.<\/p>\n
In the 1990s and early 2000s he expressed support for a ban on some automatic weapons. But as he approached the nomination of the Republican Party as its candidate for presidency, he fell more within the fold of the party\u2019s views.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump was also endorsed by the NRA in his 2016 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Source: BBC<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Homepage](\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Newmont-telesol.gif\")
<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n