The White House made clear that the Barr proposal — which senators described as an “ideas list” or a work in progress — has not yet received Mr. Trump’s blessing, further underscoring the degree to which bipartisan talks around gun safety could fail. Mr. Barr, speaking to reporters in the Capitol, also played it down, saying he was “just kicking around some ideas” to see what could gain traction in the Senate…

But Republicans who favor gun rights said they wanted more specifics, and several said it was pointless to even talk about Mr. Barr’s plan at this point. As the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, the attorney general will be a central figure in the debate over gun legislation, but senators agree that the president will have the final say.

“My question was: ‘Where is the president on this?’ And I asked this question directly: ‘Is this something the president supports?’ And they didn’t have an answer for that,” said Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, who met with Mr. Barr on Tuesday evening. “That’s an important piece. If the president doesn’t support it, then there’s no point.”