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US President Donald Trump has defied the National Rifle Association (NRA) and fellow Republicans in pushing for tougher gun control laws during a meeting with Congress members in Washington.
Key points:
- Donald Trump holds free-flowing discussion with broad range of politicians
- President says Congress members shouldn't be fearful of NRA
- Major US retailer bans assault-style rifle sales
Mr Trump criticised politicians during the White House talks for being too fearful of the NRA and dismissed the legislative strategy of Republicans that has stalled action in Congress.
The Republican President, endorsed by the powerful gun lobby in his 2016 campaign, has been wary of angering voters who oppose any curbs on gun ownership, particularly ahead of the November elections in which his party's control of Congress will be at stake.
But on Wednesday, at the start of a freewheeling televised session that stretched for an hour, Mr Trump pushed Congress to go big on the bill.
He said he met with NRA officials on Sunday and told them: "It's time. We've got to stop this nonsense. It's time."
"They have great power over you people. They have less power over me," Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump spoke approvingly of expanding background checks for gun buyers and raising the legal age to buy rifles to 21 from 18, saying he would give serious consideration to an idea rejected by the NRA.
"You have to be very, very powerful on background checks. Don't be shy. Very strong on mentally ill," he told the Congress members.
"And don't worry about bump stocks, we're getting rid of it. It'll be out."
The President rejected the way Republican leaders in Congress have framed the gun debate, saying the House-backed bill linking a background check measure with a bill to expand gun rights by allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines was not the right approach.
"You'll never get it passed," he told them, reminding that Democratic senators, including some in the room, strongly oppose it.
Instead, he suggested Republicans should focus on the background check bill, then load it up with other gun control and safety measures.
"It would be nice if we could add everything on to it," Mr Trump said.
Major retailer bans assault-style rifle sales
Mr Trump's push came as a major US sporting store also defied the NRA.
Dick's Sporting Goods will immediately stop selling assault-style rifles and ban the sale of all guns to anyone under 21, the company said, as its CEO took on the NRA by demanding tougher gun laws after the massacre in Florida.
The strongly worded announcement from the nationwide chain came as students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, returned to class for the first time since a teenager killed 17 students and educators with an AR-15 rifle two weeks ago.
"When we saw what the kids were going through and the grief of the parents and the kids who were killed in Parkland, we felt we needed to do something," chairman and CEO Ed Stack told ABC America.
The change in sales practices, and the emphatic words from Mr Stack, put Dick's out front in the falling-out between corporate America and the gun lobby.
The move was quickly followed by retailer Walmart, which also said it would raise the minimum age at which customers could buy firearms to 21.
The retail giant is also removing items from its website resembling assault-style rifles, including non-lethal airsoft guns and toys, it said in a statement.
Several major corporations, including MetLife, Hertz and Delta Air Lines, have cut ties with the NRA since the Florida tragedy, but until now, none were retailers that sold guns.
The NRA has pushed back aggressively against calls for raising age limits for guns or restricting the sale of assault-style weapons.
Calls to the NRA were not immediately returned.
Mr Stack also revealed that Nikolas Cruz, the 19-year-old arrested in the Florida attack, had bought a shotgun at a Dick's store within the past four months.
"It was not the gun, nor type of gun, he used in the shooting," the CEO wrote.
"But it could have been. Clearly this indicates on so many levels that the systems in place are not effective to protect our kids and our citizens."
Families, police surround school as students return
Families of the teen survivors of the second-deadliest shooting at a US public school gathered outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Wednesday to support the students returning to the place 17 people were massacred two weeks ago.
About 3,000 students, many carrying white flowers, wove through hundreds of uniformed police officers to get to class.
Students and staff cried and hugged each other during shortened classes that lasted a half-day, beginning with what is normally the students' fourth period.
That was where the students were in their day when a 19-year-old man who had been kicked out of the school is accused of beginning his rampage.
"In the beginning, everyone was super serious, but then everyone cheered up and it started being the same vibes we had before the shooting," said Kyle Kashuv, a junior who said he hugged every single teacher.
Not all of the sprawling school was reopened.
The building where the 14 students and three educators were fatally shot on February 14 will remain closed, officials said, as state politicians contemplate tearing it down and replacing it with a memorial to the victims.
AP/Reuters
Topics: government-and-politics, law-crime-and-justice, laws, crime, united-states
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