Manchin is the most prominent pro-gun member of Congress to address the shooting.
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a longtime gun rights advocate, said Monday that he would be open to a discussion on restricting assault rifles and high-capacity magazines following Friday's mass shooting that killed 20 first-graders and six adults at a Connecticut school.
"We've never been in these waters before – we've had horrific crimes throughout our country, but never have we seen so many of our babies put in harm's way and their life taken from them and the grief," Manchin told CNBC. "That's changed me, and it's changed most Americans I would think."
Connecticut police said the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., were killed by a high-powered assault rifle.
Manchin, who has an A-rating from the National Rifle Association, is the most prominent pro-gun member of Congress to address the shooting.
His comments come a day after President Obama's impassioned speech in Newtown in which he said lawmakers had failed their children, saying, "We can't accept events like this as routine. ... Are we prepared to say such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?"
Manchin, a lifelong hunter who once used the climate change bill for target practice in one of his political ads, mentioned the new assault weapons bill currently being crafted by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., as one of the proposals that merited discussion.
"I've been a hunter all my life, the culture in West Virginia is hunting and sporting and we love it," he said. "I've never been hunting with anyone with an assault weapon. I've never been hunting with anyone with multiple clips of 10, 20 or 30 rounds in it. In deer hunting we maybe have three shells and that's the sport of what we do."
The NRA has yet to comment on the incident in Newtown and at some point this weekend appeared to have pulled down its Facebook page.
Machinin said he had spoken to the NRA and that he wanted the group "engaged in this dialogue" and "need to be at the table" to help craft a "reasonable" solution.
"They are going to be strong participant, and they should be at the table and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure they are," he said.
Source: http://www.news.theusalinks.com/2012/12/17/pro-gun-senator-says-its-time-to-talk-gun-regulations/
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