President Donald Trump suggested undermining due process to take firearms away from people who appear to be mentally unstable during a meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday.
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Vice President Mike Pence spoke during the meeting about having a process for families to go to court and get an order that allows the state to take away firearms from people who are considered to be a danger to themselves or others.
“The focus is to give families and give local law enforcement additional tools if an individual is reported to be a potential danger to themselves or others,” Pence explained. “Allow due process. The ability to go to court, obtain an order and collect the firearms…”
Trump cut in on Pence’s statement, asserting, “Or Mike, take the firearms first and then go to court.”
“That’s another system,” the president said. “A lot of times by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court to get the due process procedures. I like taking the guns early.”
Trump argued that Nikolas Cruz, the school shooter who killed 17 people in Parkland, Florida, had so many issues that it would have taken a “long time” to get him through court.
“You can do what you’re saying but take the guns first, go through due process second,” he concluded.
Pence didn’t challenge Trump’s assertion that due process should come “second,” instead reiterating that he wanted a system to remove firearms from people with red flags for a “set period of time or longer.”