Debate Over Gun Control Intensifies Among Trump Delegates After Assassination Attempt

Following an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, interviews with Republican delegates reveal staunch opposition to gun law reforms. They argue that mental health support, not gun control, should be the focus. Despite recurring mass shootings, the delegates believe that any reform measures infringe upon the Second Amendment.

Their presidential candidate had just narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, a bullet grazing his ear on Saturday from an AR-15-style semiautomatic weapon—a rifle frequently used by mass shooters in the United States.

Yet in interviews with 12 Donald Trump delegates at his Republican Party nominating convention in Milwaukee, none advocated for limits or bans on assault rifles, raising the legal age to buy a gun, or even more robust background checks. The delegates were dead set against any type of reform to America's gun laws.

Most viewed even mild measures, such as expanded background checks, or raising the legal age to buy an assault weapon to 21, as infringements on the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment, which grants citizens the right to own guns. Instead, the delegates said any gun-related reforms should focus on funding better mental health support for troubled citizens, a standard Republican position. They blamed gun crime and gun massacres—including the assassination attempt on Trump—largely on mental illness and weapons falling into the wrong hands.