White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Sunday differences between Sunday Republicans are "all reconcilable" on gun control legislation.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said last week that strengthening background checks and red flag laws "will be front and center" when addressing gun violence in the Senate following mass shootings in Texas and Ohio that left at least 31 people dead.
But Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the No. 3 Republican in the upper chamber, told reporters Friday he had "a lot of concerns about the due process component of“ red flag laws, adding that he doesn't "want to punish law-abiding citizens."
Asked about the conflicting responses, Conway said on "Fox News Sunday" that it's "all reconcilable."
President Donald Trump is "actively talking to Republicans and Democrats" on background checks and "being able to have meaningful, measurable reforms that don't confiscate law-abiding citizens firearms without due process, but at the same time keep those firearms out of people who have a propensity toward violence," Conway added.
The president expressed optimism on passing background checks Friday in remarks to reporters.
"I think we can get something really good done. I think we can have some really meaningful background checks," Trump said. "We don't want people that are mentally ill, people that are sick — we don't want them having guns."
Conway echoed that Sunday, telling "Fox News Sunday" host Bill Hemmer: "We want to make sure that people who should not have firearms, don't."
"I think the fact pattern in Dayton — that mass shooter who is now dead — is really very compelling to many Americans," Conway said, adding that the killer in Ohio reportedly compiled a "hit list" and a "rape list.
""Then when he becomes an adult, that information does not follow into his record, so that he legally procures a firearm," Conway added. “Most people look at that, left right and center and apolitical, look at that and say, 'How could this happen?'"
"We can protect people's civil liberties, privacy, constitutional rights and public safety all at the right time," Conway said.
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine