The Note: Pressure building on Trump to act on guns

Signs abound suggesting that skepticism is warranted.

When Trump convenes stakeholders and victims of gun violence today, the pressure will be building for action by a president who claims to like to act.

Signs abound suggesting that skepticism is warranted. The president spent part of his weekend raging at the FBI. Ugly corners of the internet are maligning students motivated to act by what they witnessed in Florida.

Yes, “bump stocks” are now on their way to possibly being banned, but it took another massacre after Las Vegas to get that moving. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Florida quickly dispatched an assault-weapons ban, with students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School watching from the gallery.

There’s a lesson there for students, and for the broader public. Other moments have felt different, too — until they weren’t any longer.

The RUNDOWN with MaryAlice Parks

In Texas, one congressional candidate has had enough. Laura Moser, a Democrat running in the Houston area, launched a new television ad in the red state calling for action on gun control.

“Only a tiny fraction of members of Congress are mothers of school-aged children,” Moser says in the ad, over footage of her with her young daughter. “Do you think this would still be happening if we had more?”

Across the country, candidates of all stripes are getting questions about gun violence this week. Florida politicians, in particular, are feeling the heat.

And while some Democrats have used the moment to reiterate ideas about stricter gun-safety measures and draw contrasts with their GOP opponents, the new messaging push from Moser seems to be more of an anomaly than a trend in districts Democrats hope to flip.

In Tennessee, the Democrat running for governor, was vague in an interview this week about the need for common-sense gun ownership and “making the gun background check process more rigorous as it relates to mental illness.”

Conor Lamb, the Democrat running in a special congressional election in a redder part of Pennsylvania next month, had previously positioned himself as pro-gun. He met with the local Moms Demand Action group in the aftermath of the Florida shooting, but has continued to be lukewarm about supporting new gun laws.

The TIP with Meridith McGraw

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said Walker's endorsement "will excite the many conservatives across West Virginia and the nation who have rallied to our campaign."

This is Morrisey's first major endorsement of the primary, but it's not clear how many conservatives in West Virginia will be swayed by Walker's stamp of approval.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

  • President Trump holds a “listening session” with high school students and teachers in the wake of the recent shooting in Parkland, Florida, at 4:15 p.m. at the White House.
  • Earlier, the president reviews the Economic Report of the President with the Council of Economic Advisers in the Oval Office at 11:30 a.m.
  • Survivors of the Florida high school shooting will rally and lobby legislators for stricter gun control laws and school safety in Tallahassee, Florida.
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    The Note is a daily ABC News feature that highlights the key political moments of the day ahead. Please check back tomorrow for the latest.