U.S. Sen. Bob Corker on Thursday said he believes more needs to be done to prevent mass shootings.
Corker and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, both Republicans, are co-sponsors of a Senate bill that calls for strengthening federal background checks. However, Corker said that bill is not enough.
"There's more that needs to happen, but right now, as everybody knows, the various agencies that do the background checks are not working with each other," Corker said during a visit to East Tennessee on Thursday. "State and local is not working closely enough with the federal side. And so we got to figure out a way to create incentives for that to happen. There's too many people that are slipping through the cracks. And so that is a start."
Corker said we've seen more and more mass shootings in the country recently, and he said he believes action will be taken.
"I think you're going to see some results here," he said. "I can't say what those results will be, but I think both the White House and Congress knows that we've got to make far more progress than we have thus far on this issue."
Alexander attended an event in his hometown of Maryville on Friday, and said he believe the debate over guns and how to best protect students in American schools needs to involve all levels of government.
"I think we need more counselors in schools to identify kids who are troubled and might be dangerous to others. Usually that's a state and local responsibility but in this case I think we might want to provide federal funding to help states deal with that better," he said.
Alexander said the federal government has taken steps to strengthen mental health laws -- but says we still need to separate who should and shouldn't have guns.
Corker said he agrees with President Donald Trump's executive order to ban bump stocks, a device that allows rifles to mimic automatic weapons.
"It seems to me like a good step to do away with the ability to turn these weapons into automatic weapons," Corker said.
Corker said he spoke with the president about his conversations with students and parents affected by the Florida shooting.
"We know that this is out of control, and we've got to figure out a way to get a handle on it," Corker said.