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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday his administration would seek to close background check loopholes for gun purchases after Democrats accused him of reversing course on gun control measures. Trump spoke with the leader of the National Rifle Association lobbying group, Wayne LaPierre, on Tuesday, a White House official said. Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Trump said he did not tell LaPierre, whose group strongly opposes increased gun restrictions, that he would avoid pursuing measures on background checks. (8/21)

Trump confirmed that he discussed background checks with Wayne LaPierre, head of the National Rifle Association, but he disputed news reports that he told LaPierre that background checks were off the table. “I have an appetite for background checks,” Trump said from the White House South Lawn as he departed for an event in Louisville, Kentucky. “We’re going to be doing background checks. ... We’re going to be filling in some of the loopholes.” (Wu, Collins and Fritze, 8/21)

Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House for Kentucky, the president said he considers gun violence a public health issue and is considering ways to make background checks more strict. But he also said, “You’re on that slope and all of a sudden nobody has any legal protection,” adding, “Our Second Amendment will remain strong.” Told the “slippery slope” argument is a National Rifle Association talking point, Trump said, “It’s a Trump talking point.” (Colvin and Kellman, 8/21)

The White House did not give a timetable for the proposals — which will likely include other legislation and executive actions addressing domestic terrorism, violent video games and mental health treatment — but suggested that the package would be timed to Congress's return in early September. The president received a formal briefing on Tuesday from his staff about the possible options, according to a White House official. (Kumar and Oprysko, 8/21)

Among the proposals under consideration are so-called “red flag” provisions that would allow authorities to take guns away from people who pose a safety threat, an authority that might be paired with requirements that the person receive a mental health evaluation or be committed. (Bennett, 8/21)

After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Senator Mitch McConnell had a message for his Kentucky constituents as his 2014 re-election fight loomed. “I want you to know that I will be doing everything in my power as Senate Republican leader, fighting tooth and nail, to protect your Second Amendment rights,” Mr. McConnell, a staunch opponent of limits on gun ownership, said in an automated call. He then helped quash expanded background check legislation backed by President Barack Obama and a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers. Responding to this month’s mass shootings in El Paso, Tex., and Dayton, Ohio, Mr. McConnell, his re-election fight again just ahead, was more measured. (Hulse, 8/21)

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson is casting major doubt on the prospects of significant gun regulations passing this fall, the latest sign that the effort to pass new firearm laws is starting to falter. The Wisconsin Republican said that a background checks measure based on the bill written by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and a national "red flag" bill are both unlikely to pass. He was open to GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill that would establish a red flag grant program, but said the Senate would need to “attach to those grants very strict guidelines in terms of due process.” (Everett, 8/20)

This month’s shootings in El Paso and Dayton haven’t moved Champaign County GOP Rep. Jim Jordan any closer to backing universal background checks for gun purchasers or red flag laws that would let authorities take guns from those deemed mentally unstable. The House Freedom Caucus co-founder on Wednesday published an opinion piece on the FoxNews website that shoots down those suggestions and others as “ineffective and misguided.” (Eaton, 8/21)