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Trump plans to discuss terror watch list gun ban with major lobbying group

Xinhua, June 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans to meet with the National Rifle Association (NRA) to discuss ways of barring people on terrorism watch lists from buying guns.

"I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns," said Trump in a tweet. He didn't' t provide the time or place of the meeting.

Trump's announcement came in the wake of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, in which a gunman armed with an assualt rife and handgun killed 49 people and 53 others at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida on Sunday.

The NRA, the most influential gun lobbying group in the United States, replied to Trump in a statement that it is happy to meet him, but insisting that its position on the gun control issue has not changed.

However, Chris Cox, executive director of NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, said in the statement that the NRA also believes that terrorists should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms.

Authorities said the shooter of the Orlando massacre, Omar Mateen, an American-born son of Afghan immigrants, had been on the government' s watch list for 10 months for suspected links with terrorism before it was removed.

The shooting has renewed the debate over tightening gun control with Democrats calling for people on the federal watch lists to be barred from purchasing firearms.

Trump's latest announcement signals a shift of his position on gun control amid rising calls nationwide for stricter gun control.

Trump has frequently declared himself as a big supporter of the U.S. Constitution's 2nd Amendment that protects people' s rights to own firearms. He has attacked his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for trying to abolish the 2nd Amendment, in an attempt to woo the gun rights advocates.

Clinton denied the Trump's accusations against her on the 2nd Amendment, but added that anyone on the terrorism watch list should not be allowed to buy guns.

"And yes, if you're too dangerous to get on a plane, you are too dangerous to buy a gun in America," Clinton said. Enditem