Donald Trump: Working on common sense measures to protect rights of gun owners

Donald Trump

President Donald Trump today said his administration is working on "common-sense measures" to protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners while keeping guns out of the hands of those who pose a threat. In his first Cabinet meeting after the deadly shooting at a high school in Florida that killed 17 people, Trump said it is not enough to secure only the schools. "We must secure the communities where our kids are growing, and wherever they go, we have to secure -- and wherever anybody goes, not just the kids. And that's why we're committed to reducing violent crime like, no other administration," he said.

"We're working on common-sense measures to protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners, while keeping guns out of the hands of those who pose a violent threat, or even a threat," he said. "Background checks are moving along in Congress, pretty well...making them tougher. It's never that easy, but it's moving along, and a lot of great things are being done. We're making them much tougher. But a lot of things are happening right now," he said. Trump said a lot of states are doing things that go along with the federal government. "A lot of this can be done by states, as was the case over the last few days with Florida. And really, some tremendous legislation is happening with states, and having to do with school safety," said the president.

"The US is fighting the deadly gangs, the MS-13, and the gangs. They are vicious. They're horrible. There is just no excuse for allowing them to flourish as they were. We've taken thousands of them out of circulation. Got them out, and we've got them out of the country, or they're in jail. And we're tackling this deadly scourge like nobody's ever tackled it before," he said. The Trump administration he said is working very hard on sanctuaries cities. The Justice Department has done fantastic job, he added. "I do think we should have legislation where we put an extra line in the money that we give them. You want the money? You can't have the sanctuary cities. That way, we avoid the court battles all the time, which we probably will win, but who needs it? They want the money? They should give up on the sanctuary cities. It harbors horrible criminals," Trump said.

He said he is establishing the Federal Inter-agency Council on Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry, to help former inmates re-enter society as productive citizens. "We have people that have been in jail, they made a mistake, they get out and they can't get a job, no matter what they do. Now, the thing I think I'm doing best for them is making the economy so strong, but we need them in the whole system," he said. "Many of them go into there phenomenal employees, phenomenal. We're doing studies on that. In fact, we're going to be putting out some information. But they go into the system, and when they can get a job, they really take advantage of it. They do a great job, and it's very important," Trump said.

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