Deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley hinted that President Donald Trump may not push for raising the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm to 21, in a Tuesday morning interview with WMAL’s “Mornings on the Mall.”
Gidley said, “It should be noted” by observers that raising the federal minimum age to 21 for gun purchasers was not an issue raised during an hours-long meeting between Trump and a bipartisan group of governors Monday.
“That should be very telling to people out there who have heard this president talking about raising the age to 21,” Gidley declared.
He added a caveat that he wouldn’t say raising the minimum age is off the table.
Trump just days before tweeted support for raising the federal minimum age to 21, a position opposed by the National Rifle Association.
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I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue – I hope!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018
The president also told Fox News Saturday, “perhaps we’ll do something on age.”
“It doesn’t seem to make sense that you have to wait until you are 21 years old to get a pistol, but to get a gun like this maniac used in the school, you get that at 18,” he said at the time.