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Can new laws prevent future mass shootings?

Posted at 9:59 PM, Aug 08, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-09 00:01:44-04

(NBC News) President Trump said Wednesday he'll support stronger background checks for gun buyers, but does not foresee any ban on assault rifles.

"There's a great appetite, and I mean a very strong appetite, for background checks," Mr. Trump said as he departed for Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, where more dozens were killed and wounded in separate mass shootings over the weekend.

"I think we can bring up background checks like we never have before," he added.

"If the President says, 'Pass legislation for universal background checks,' the Republican Congress in the Senate will move on it," Ohio's Senator Sherrod Brown said after the president's visit.

Still, so far Republican leader Mitch McConnell has ignored calls to bring lawmakers back early for a vote.

Critics say that not nearly enough.

"We must require federal licensing for guns in America," says New Jersey Senator and presidential candidate Cory Booker.

Others are pushing for a ban on assault weapons, an idea that President Trump has rejected.

Read more: https://nbcnews.to/2yRpM17