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President Trump stunned Republicans on live television Wednesday by embracing gun control and urging a group of lawmakers at the White House to resurrect gun safety legislation that has been opposed for years by the powerful National Rifle Association and the vast majority of his party. In a remarkable meeting, the president veered wildly from the N.R.A. playbook in front of giddy Democrats and stone-faced Republicans. He called for comprehensive gun control legislation that would expand background checks to weapons purchased at gun shows and on the internet, keep guns from mentally ill people, secure schools and restrict gun sales for some young adults. He even suggested a conversation on an assault weapons ban. (Shear, 2/28)

"We can't wait and play games and nothing gets done," Trump said as he opened the session with 17 House and Senate lawmakers. "We want to stop the problems." Trump also raised eyebrows by suggesting that law enforcement officials should be able to confiscate people's firearms without a court order to prevent potential tragedies. (Mascaro, Daly and Lucey, 3/1)

Most striking were Trump’s remarks decrying what he called excessive “checks and balances” that limit what can be done to prevent mentally unfit people from buying or keeping guns. “Take the firearms first, and then go to court,” Trump said, cutting off Vice President Pence as Pence articulated a version of the due-process arguments that the NRA and other gun-rights advocates have used to derail past gun-control measures. “You could do exactly what you’re saying, but take the guns first, go through due process second.” (Gearan, DeBonis and Kim, 2/28)

“If this meeting ends up with just sort of vague notions of future compromise, then nothing will happen,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.). “Mr. President, it’s going to have to be you that brings the Republicans to the table on this.” “I like that responsibility,” Mr. Trump replied. (Radnofsky, Peterson and Andrews, 2/28)

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he wanted Sen. Chris Murphy to join three Senate colleagues – John Cornyn, R-Texas; Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.; and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., in drafting a “comprehensive” gun bill that is “very powerful” on expansion of the FBI background check system for gun buyers. “We are determined to turn grief into action,” Trump said at a White House gathering with lawmakers to discuss ways to combat gun violence. (Radelat, 2/28)

President Donald Trump has called for “hardened schools” to end the cycle of school massacres. But he was unimpressed last week when told about a Midwestern campus dubbed "the safest school in America." An Indiana state official had suggested he consider Southwestern High in Shelbyville a national prototype because of its state-of-the-art cameras that send real-time footage to a sheriff’s office, smoke cannons in hallways, bulletproof doors and teachers who wear panic buttons. (Emma, 3/1)

State lawmakers across the U.S. are considering new laws in the wake of the Florida high school shooting, and legislatures from Maine to Alaska took action on Wednesday. A rundown of what's happening in statehouses. (2/28)

A state senator is pushing a bill to raise the minimum age to legally purchase rifles and shotguns in California to 21. Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Cañada Flintridge, amended Senate Bill 1100 on Wednesday to prohibit someone from purchasing more than one gun in 30 days and to increase the age limit to buy all firearms to 21. (Luna, 2/28)

It was, especially in a restrictive state like New York, a seemingly modest set of gun-control proposals. Prospective gun buyers would undergo longer background checks; an institute would be formed to study gun violence; courts would be allowed to seize or prohibit the sale of guns to potentially violent individuals; and a ban would be enacted on the possession of bump stocks, which can make a semiautomatic rifle shoot nearly as fast as a fully automatic version. (McKinley, 2/28)