As Donald Trump speaks at the NRA forum in Pennsylvania, DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“At every turn, Donald Trump has looked out for his gun lobby backers at the NRA — not the safety of our communities. Trump put Americans at risk by  making it easier for criminals to carry guns while in office, and even told gun violence survivors to ‘get over it’ after promising to roll back gun safety measures. While Trump is running on a dangerous and unpopular MAGA agenda that puts the NRA first, President Biden and Vice President Harris have taken on the gun lobby to make our communities’ safety a top priority.”

Donald Trump has no shame — he told school shooting victims to “get over it,” touts his close ties to the NRA, and continues to bend to the gun lobby’s will at every turn.

Rolling Stone: “Trump on Iowa School Shooting: ‘Get Over It’”

“A day after a gunman killed a sixth grade student and wounded five other people at Perry High School northwest of Des Moines, Donald Trump returned to the state at a campaign event and told residents that they ‘have to get over it.’”

Trump: “There’s no bigger fan of the NRA [than me].”

NBC News: “Trump says mass shootings are not ‘a gun problem’ as 2024 GOP hopefuls pledge loyalty to the NRA”

New York Magazine: “After Taunting Republicans for Being Afraid of NRA, Trump Gives In to NRA”

Washington Post: “After latest shooting, Trump pushes Facebook ads ‘straight from the NRA playbook’”

Politico: “Former President Donald Trump on Friday addressed the National Rifle Association’s annual conference in Houston … just three days after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.”

CNN: “A slew of 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls courted gun rights activists Friday at a National Rifle Association convention in Indianapolis that took place in the wake of mass shootings in Kentucky and Tennessee in recent days. Former President Donald Trump … attended the gathering.”

The NRA has spent tens of millions to support Trump’s campaigns — and Trump in turn has vowed to not go “up against them.”

Yahoo News: “The gun-rights group spent $54 million during the 2016 election cycle, including $30 million to help Donald Trump get elected president.”

Fortune: “For instance, in 2020, the NRA alone spent over $12 million campaigning against Biden and another $4.5 million in favor of Donald Trump.”

Trump: “I don’t think I’ll be going up against them. I really think the NRA wants to do what’s right.”

New York Times: “At the N.R.A.’s annual convention in 2017, Mr. Trump assured the group’s members, ‘You came through for me, and I am going to come through for you.’”

As president, Trump made the gun epidemic worse by standing in the way of commonsense gun reform and making it easier for criminals to carry guns.

New York Times: “Conceding to N.R.A., Trump Abandons Brief Gun Control Promise”

“President Trump on Monday abandoned his promise to work for gun control measures opposed by the National Rifle Association, bowing to the gun group and embracing its agenda of armed teachers and incremental improvements to the background check system.”

The Hill: “The [Trump] White House on Monday issued a statement warning that President Trump would veto proposed legislation to enhance background checks for gun purchases if it passes the House and Senate.”

Politico: “Trump quietly used regulations to expand gun access”

Trump gave into the NRA after taunting Republicans for being beholden to them and backtracked on his promise to take action on gun violence — just days after meeting with the NRA about how the gun lobby could support him financially. 

New York Times, September 2019: “President Trump met in the White House on Friday with Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association, and discussed prospective gun legislation and whether the N.R.A. could provide financial support for the president as he faces impeachment and a more difficult re-election campaign, according to two people familiar with the meeting. During the meeting, Mr. LaPierre asked that the White House ‘stop the games’ over gun control legislation, people familiar with the meeting said. It was not clear whether Mr. Trump asked Mr. LaPierre for his support, or what that support would look like.”

Associated Press, February 2020: “There was no public discussion of tighter gun laws when Trump welcomed Parkland families to the White House for a private meeting on Monday, four days before the two-year anniversary of the rampage that left 17 dead. Instead, administration officials unveiled a website intended to help educators, parents and law enforcement address threats to school safety.”

New York Magazine: “President Trump met with survivors of the Parkland school shooting and attempted to convey a sincere intention to act. … What happened next was predictable. Trump met with the head of the NRA. He stopped talking about the issue he was going to solve.”

Despite data demonstrating the devastating impact of gun violence in American communities, Trump is running on an agenda that would not only fail to tackle gun violence in our communities — it would make us less safe.

Trump:  “I will sign concealed carry reciprocity. Your Second Amendment does not end at the state line.”

CNN: “Trump suggests arming teachers as a solution to increase school safety”

Reuters: “[Trump] also called for eliminating gun-free school zones, adding that such zones leave victims with no means to defend themselves in case of an attack by an armed person.”

CNN: “Guns are the leading cause of death for US children and teens, since surpassing car accidents in 2020. Firearms accounted for nearly 19% of childhood deaths (ages 1-18) in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wonder database. Nearly 3,600 children died in gun-related incidents that year. That’s about five children lost for every 100,000 children in the United States.”

KFF: “Firearms were responsible for 20 percent of all child and teen deaths in the U.S. for both 2020 and 2021, compared to an average of less than 2 percent in similarly large and wealthy nations.”

Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions: “Around 4.5 million women in the United States have been threatened with a gun, and nearly 1 million women have been shot or shot at by an intimate partner. Over half of all intimate partner homicides are committed with guns.” 

Pew Research Center: “More than half of all suicides in 2021 – 26,328 out of 48,183, or 55% – also involved a gun, the highest percentage since 2001.”

Pew Research Center: “In 2021, the most recent year for which complete data is available, 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S., according to the CDC.”

While President Biden is calling for an assault weapons ban — which studies indicate would reduce mass shootings and keep our communities safe — Trump is instead siding with the NRA and the gun lobby. 

New York Times: “In the face of N.R.A. opposition, [Trump] has also retreated from his earlier openness to expanded background checks and a renewal of the expired ban on assault weapons.”

Northwestern University: “A federal assault weapon ban was highly effective in reducing public mass shootings, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study just published in a pre-print.” 

Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery: “Conclusion: Mass-shooting related homicides in the United States were reduced during the years of the federal assault weapons ban of 1994 to 2004.”