US President Donald Trump supports efforts to improve the federal background check system for gun purchases, the White House has said.
Mr Trump spoke to Republican Senator John Cornyn about gun legislation on Friday, two days after a shooting at a Florida school killed 17 people, reports The Independent UK on Monday.
They discussed the bipartisan bill Mr Cornyn and Democratic senator Chris Murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background checks, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
“While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the President is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system,” Ms Sanders said.
While running for president, Mr Trump has tied himself to the National Rifle Association and received the most gun lobbying funding of any presidential candidate ever.
Last April, Mr Trump declared to members of the NRA: “The eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end.”
He also assured association – which donated more than $30 million to his presidential campaign – that it now has “a true friend and champion in the White House.”
His comments came after he signed a resolution in February blocking an Obama-era rule that would have prevented an estimated 75,000 people with mental disorders from buying guns.
The rule was part of former President Barack Obama’s push to strengthen the federal background check system following the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut shooting – the deadliest school shooting in US history.