--- title: What Will President Trump Say About Guns? description: As President Trump heads to Las Vegas, all eyes are on how he handles the emotional moment and if he will raise the issue of gun control. canonical: https://time.com/4966839/what-will-president-trump-say-about-guns/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-04T16:52:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:42:17.671Z article:section: Politics og:title: What Will President Trump Say About Guns? og:description: As President Trump heads to Las Vegas, all eyes are on how he handles the emotional moment and if he will raise the issue of gun control. og:url: https://time.com/4966839/what-will-president-trump-say-about-guns/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Morning Must Reads og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What Will President Trump Say About Guns? twitter:description: As President Trump heads to Las Vegas, all eyes are on how he handles the emotional moment and if he will raise the issue of gun control. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb24c27fcf0ec0da8/6986837dcd6848a30809364f/morning-must-reads1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What Will President Trump Say About Guns? by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 4, 2017 4:52 PM UTC  The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC. The early morning sun rises behind the US Capitol Building in Washington, DC.Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 4, 2017 4:52 PM UTC As President Trump heads to Las Vegas, all eyes in Washington are on how he will handle the emotional moment and what, if anything, he will say about gun control. Aides say they’ve seen no indication that the president is making a 180 on gun control overnight — he was backed by the NRA during his campaign and became the first sitting president in decades to speak to the group’s annual conference. But Trump has been moved off seemingly firm positions before, whether for emotional reasons like the photos of Syrian chemical weapons use in March, or for political ones in the case of DACA. Officials across the White House complex have huddled privately to consider potential policy or political responses to the tragedy, aides said, but there has been no formal deliberative process or priorities established. Similarly, what little discussion there has been hasn’t risen to the level of the president or even much of his senior staff. Administration staffers have been closely following reports on how the shooter obtained the weapon, while White House lawyers are studying up on the legal authorities of the ATF when it comes to regulating the deadly modifications used by the shooter. The “bump stock,” which allowed the shooter to fire at near-automatic rates without violating the letter of federal law, was one focus of inquiry in the days after the shooting. Such a narrow move could gain widespread backing, and would also meet the White House’s test of responding based on the facts of the case. Trump’s Cabinet trouble. The president’s unclear position on Puerto Rico’s debt. 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