Trump allies assure gun rights advocates the president won't limit firearms after Las Vegas


Just about everyone is trying to get a read on what President Trump might do after the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. "Trump's allies, both inside and out of the White House, are mostly sure he'll resist [pressure for gun control] because he owes too much to the NRA and its supporters — but even some of them aren't 100 percent sure," Axios writes.
For certain allies, the threat of a bipartisan gun control deal represents the ultimate betrayal: "Base would go insane and he knows it," Trump's longtime friend Roger Stone said. Stephen Bannon said imagining Trump reaching a gun deal with Democrats is "impossible: will be the end of everything."
Not everyone is so convinced, especially because Trump is set to visit Las Vegas on Wednesday, where he will meet with first responders as well as victims and their family members. "On top of the immense political pressure, the visuals Trump will see, hundreds of severely injured young people, could provoke him to act," one person familiar with Trump's thinking predicted to Axios.
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Trump himself hasn't offered a clear stance one way or the other. "We'll be talking about gun laws as time goes by," he told reporters Tuesday. Jeva Lange
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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