- Trump's chief of staff shut down the then-president's desire to restrict assault weapons in 2019, the NYT reports.
- Mick Mulvaney said they weren't going to "a damn thing" because Trump would "lose."
- Trump supported and backed off stricter gun restrictions at multiple points in his presidency.
President Donald Trump's then-chief of staff Mick Mulvaney shut down Trump's desire to restrict assault rifles in a previously-unreported September 2019 meeting following mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, The New York Times reported on Friday.
"What are we going to do about assault rifles?" Trump asked in the wake of the El Paso shooting, where a right-wing gunman acting on hatred against Hispanic people killed 23 people at a Walmart and injured over 20 more.
"Not a damn thing," Mulvaney said, according to The Times.
"Why?" Trump asked.
Mulvaney responded: "Because you would lose."
This new reporting on Trump's desire to restrict assault rifles and the White House's inaction on the matter comes in the wake of Tuesday's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman killed 19 fourth-grade students and two of their teachers.
The shooting in Uvalde follows another recent mass shooting at a grocery store in a predominately Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, where a gunman motivated by racial hatred against Black Americans killed 10 people. The mass shootings have reinvigorated a national discussion on gun control.
Trump, for his part, had supported more far-reaching gun control measures before becoming a Republican presidential candidate. He publicly and privately expressed support for reforms, including stronger background checks and raising the age limit to purchase assault rifles above 18, following the February 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida, and the El Paso shooting.
But after both shootings, the National Rifle Association, a powerful gun-rights group, stepped in and successfully got Trump to back off supporting any gun restrictions before the measures could gain serious momentum on Capitol Hill.
The Times previously reported on one meeting in September 2019, when Trump was facing down his first impeachment in Congress, the NRA's chief executive Wayne LaPierre offered "financial support for the president's defense" and asked Trump to "stop the games" on gun control legislation.
In response, the organization "categorically denies" any talk of "special arrangements pertaining to the NRA's support of the President."
Trump is slated to speak on Friday afternoon at the NRA's annual convention in Houston nearly 300 miles away from the site of the Uvalde shooting. Both Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick canceled scheduled appearances at the event in the wake of the shooting, with Abbott instead delivering pre-recorded remarks.