The Gun Beat: Student protesters laid down in the street in front of the White House yesterday in sympathy with the surviving students and victims of the mass shooting in Florida last week. Some of the students from Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School say they will not attend a “listening session” called for tomorrow by President Trump.

The President, who has said virtually nothing about guns and what to do about them, indicated that he might be amenable to tighter federal background checks for gun buyers. “While discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement, “the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system.”

 CNN reports that the accused Florida shooter Nikolas Cruz bought 10 rifles within the past year. The family Cruz lived with after his mother’s death knew Cruz had guns. James Snead, the father, said that even after shooting he doesn’t question Cruz’s right to own an assault rifle.

 The NY Times reports that within an hour of when news broke about the Florida school shooting, Russian bots were issuing divisive internet posts about guns and gun control in the US. The paper reports that, “The bots target a contentious issue like race relations or guns. They stir the pot, often animating both sides and creating public doubt in institutions like the police or media. Any issue associated with extremist views is a ripe target.”

It’s Political: Forgetting that he once called Mitt Romney a “phony” and a “fraud,” President Trump says he endorses the former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate for Senator from Utah. Romney thanked Trump. Don’t you just love politics? Back in a March 2016 speech Romney said, “promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat.”

Political Borders: The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which threw out a ridiculously gerrymandered congressional district map, has imposed a new map that is likely to be more favorable to Democrats. When the political parties failed to draw a compromise map, the court stepped in as it had originally threatened.

Republicans have dominated 13-5 in the state’s congressional delegation.  The court had ruled that it wanted districts that were more compact and contiguous while avoiding splitting municipalities. That’s what they drew up. The Republicans say they will appeal.

Five Rings: Mikaela Shiffrin has pulled out of the women’s downhill, leaving the American field open for Lindsey Vonn in tomorrow’s race. Shiffrin’s schedule of races was compacted because of bad weather. She says she’s going to focus on the women’s combined, a two-day contest consisting of one downhill run, and two slalom. — American Brita Sigourney won bronze in the women’s freestyle skiing halfpipe, leaving defending gold medalist Maddie Bowman far behind. Bowman fell in all three of her runs, finishing dead last in a final field of 11. — The US men’s hockey team beat Slovakia 5-1 to advance to the quarter finals.

The Obit Page: Günter Blobel, a molecular biologist who was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering that proteins in living cells have codes that send them to the right place in the body to regulate body tissues, organs and chemistry, has died at 81.

A refugee from East Germany, he spent almost his entire career at Rockefeller University in New York. His discovery was a breakthrough in cell biology, helping to understand the mechanics of such diseases as cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer’s, leukemia, schizophrenia, cancers, and more.

Tight Security: The driver of one of the press vans in Florida was removed yesterday after the Secret Service found a handgun in the man’s personal bag. He said he forgot to leave the gun in his car, but the Secret Service relieved him of duty as well as the drivers of two other White House press vans.

The drivers were replaced by staffers from the White House press office, one of whom promptly hit a Secret Service vehicle.