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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that strengthening background checks and red flag laws will “lead the discussion” on addressing gun violence in the wake of two mass shootings that left at least 31 people dead. McConnell’s remarks on a Kentucky news radio show follow a conversation he had Thursday morning with President Donald Trump, who has called for revisiting stricter background checks for gun buyers as well as red flag laws, which allows authorities to limit a person’s access to guns if they pose an imminent threat to others. (Levine, 8/8)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will discuss measures aimed at addressing gun violence in September. He said he expects background checks, assault weapons and "red flag" laws to be part of the debate. "What we can't do is fail to pass something," McConnell told WHAS radio in Kentucky, adding, "the urgency of this is not lost on any of us." (Taylor, 8/8)

But the Republican senator also said he won't call lawmakers back to Washington this month to address gun violence, following two mass shootings that left more than 30 people dead over the weekend. "If we did that we would just have people scoring points and nothing would happen," McConnell said in the brief interview. "If we do it prematurely it will just be another frustrating experience for all of us and the public." (Fox, 8/8)

Stakes are high for all sides, but particularly for Trump and his party. Republicans have long opposed expanding background checks — a bill passed by the Democratic-led House is stalled in the Senate — but they face enormous pressure to do something after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, that killed 31 people. McConnell, who is facing protests outside his Louisville home, can shift attention back to Democrats by showing a willingness to engage ahead of the 2020 election. (Mascaro and Daly, 8/9)

At the same time, McConnell, who faces reelection next year, underscored the difficulty in reaching consensus on a divisive issue. Congress has not passed significant gun-control legislation since the 1990s. (Itkowitz, 8/8)

The mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, are prompting Democrats to reevaluate their long-standing hesitation on an assault weapons ban, propelled by an influential grass-roots movement demanding more aggressive action on guns and the party’s growing political strength in the suburbs. Former president Bill Clinton threw fresh momentum behind the effort on Thursday, calling for the reinstatement of the ban in an essay for Time magazine. (Kim, 8/8)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday called on President Donald Trump to use his constitutional powers to bring the Senate back into session, ramping up her efforts to force Republicans to act against gun violence. The unusual request — which would be extraordinary if Trump were to agree — comes as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has rejected Democratic demands to cut short the August recess and vote to require universal background checks on gun sales after two deadly mass shootings over the weekend. (Caygle, 8/8)

“Mr. President, we have an opportunity to work in a bipartisan way to pass gun violence prevention background checks,” Pelosi, D- Calif., said in her letter. “This extraordinary moment in our history requires all of us to take extraordinary action to save lives.” Earlier this week, House Democrats sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office urging him to bring the Senate back into session to pass two bills expanding universal background checks and closing gun show loopholes. So far, McConnell, R-Ky., has not brought the legislation up for a vote. (McDonald, 8/8)

Rep. Don Bacon fielded questions on his stance on gun-control legislation here in an overflowing room in the back of a sports bar, and the loudest cheers for the swing-seat Republican were when he stated his opposition. Mr. Bacon, who represents Omaha and its surrounding areas and won re-election last year by a 2-point margin, laid out why he is against widening background checks for gun purchases. (Andrews, 8/8)

More than 200 mayors, including two anguished by mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, are urging the Senate to return to the Capitol to act on gun safety legislation amid criticism that Congress is failing to respond to back-to-back shootings that left 31 people dead. In a letter Thursday to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, the mayors wrote, “Our nation can no longer wait for our federal government to take the actions necessary to prevent people who should not have access to firearms from being able to purchase them.” (Daly and Mascaro, 8/8)

Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski on Thursday joined more than 200 mayors across the nation in signing a letter asking U.S. Senate leadership to take swift action on bipartisan gun safety legislation. “Feeling safe in your community should be a right in this country, not a privilege,” Biskupski said in a statement issued Thursday. “We have to work together to ensure that Washington takes immediate and meaningful action to ensure the safety of the people they represent.” (McKellar, 8/8)

Last year, a man who worked at a car dealership in San Diego told his co-workers that he would shoot up the place if he were fired, and he praised the man who had carried out the Las Vegas massacre. Another man told his fiancée he wanted to shoot her in the head, and also threatened to kill her ex-boyfriend. Still another told co-workers that he wished his supervisors would die, and that he could invite them hunting so it would look like an accident. (Oppel, 8/8)

Proposals for a federal law encouraging the removal of guns from people at risk of harming themselves or others have gained a rare measure of bipartisan support after back-to-back mass shootings last weekend in Texas and Ohio. But the experiences of states that have adopted similar measures show that the effects of such “red flag” laws have been widely uneven, depending on legislative fine print and the energy with which front-line law enforcement officials choose to implement them. (Jamison and Hermann, 8/8)

Gun control is again in the spotlight after weekend shootings in Texas and Ohio left dozens dead and more than 50 wounded. And while Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has signaled support for universal background checks and so-called red-flag laws that limit who can have guns, Wisconsin Republicans have shown few signs of doing anything on the issue so far. Here is what you need to know about these laws. (Andrea, 8/8)

Former Vice President Joe Biden said he has what it takes to strengthen gun laws in the country following mass shootings in Texas and Ohio last weekend. Biden told reporters at the Iowa State Fair Thursday that it violates no one’s Second Amendment right to tell people they can’t own certain weapons like an assault rifle. (Masters, 8/8)

Kaiser Health News: KHN’s ‘What The Health?’: Gun Violence And The Politics Of Public Health

Three mass shootings in eight days have refocused the nation’s attention on the problem of gun violence — and restarted the long-running debate over guns as a public health issue. Although Congress is on its summer break, before lawmakers left Washington they passed a two-year budget deal to make it easier to fund health programs — but it also cements funding restrictions like the Hyde Amendment, which bans most federal abortion funding. (8/8)