Toomey: Trump's Support on Background Checks Is 'Constructive'

Sen. Pat Toomey said Sunday some Senate opponents of gun reform are “reconsidering” their position on background check legislation — a hopeful sign as the Pennsylvania Republican tries to revive a failed 2013 measure.

In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Toomey said President Donald Trump has expressed support for such checks.

“The president's expression of support for strengthening the background check system is constructive,” Toomey said. “The president can play a huge and in fact decisive role in this. I intend to give this another shot.”

Toomey was the GOP leader of a bipartisan push for gun reform after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, and with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., pushed a bill to expand firearm background checks to online sales and gun shows. It failed to get through the Senate.

"I’ve spent a lot of hours on the phone and communicating other ways with my colleagues this week,” he said.

"I do think there are some members who were not supportive in the past and are reconsidering. I haven't gotten anyone who said, 'Yes, sign me up,’ but there are definitely members who are reconsidering. The president’s expression of support for strengthening our background check system is very constructive.”

But, he conceded, it won’t “solve all problems, and we never suggested that it would."

“One of the challenges we face is what to do about someone that's clearly mentally deranged but haven't acted out in a way that allows you to adjudicate them as dangerously mentally ill or haven't committed a crime,” he said.

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