The Pence-Trump divide deepens, this time over guns

Mike Pence is aiming to get to the right of Donald Trump on guns, bringing debates the two once had behind closed doors in the White House into the public eye.

The former vice president is slated to come on his Hoosier home turf for the National Rifle Association’s annual leadership summit in Indianapolis Friday, during which he is expected to draw implicit contrasts with his former boss.

His speech, according to an adviser, is likely to address both the Nashville and Louisville mass shootings, talk about the importance of mental health facilities, train and supply armed officers at schools and embrace expediting the death penalty for perpetrators.

What Pence won’t talk about, though, is perhaps more instructive: Championing red flag laws that give law enforcement officials the opportunity to intervene when a person is deemed as high-risk, as well as banning bump stocks. Those two issues were ones Trump was open to or acted upon during his administration. Pence advocated for red flag laws as vice president, but has since disavowed the idea, with his Advancing American Freedom group coming out against it in March 2022.