Second District Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito says she is taking a strong stand for gun owners because that is what the people she represents want her to do.
“My phone is on fire in terms of folks who are really concerned about losing their Constitutional rights, not just here but in other areas, but particularly here,” Congressman Capito said.
“I’m going to hold strong on that.”
President Barack Obama was in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Monday afternoon to talk about his gun proposals.
He chose the site because officials in Minneapolis have taken steps to address gun violence since a mass shooting at an office there last year.
Following the December shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, President Obama proposed a crackdown on gun trafficking, universal background checks for every gun sale and bans on military style assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
There is not expected to be enough support on Capitol Hill to reinstate the ban on military style assault weapons that expired in 2004.
However, reports out of Washington, D.C. indicate additional background check requirements could get approval from the U.S. Senate and, maybe, the U.S. House.
Congresswoman Capito says she thinks any gun show loopholes should be addressed but, at this point, she’s not sure about universal background checks.
“I think there’s a lot to talk about here. I just want to see how it actually comes out,” she said on Monday’s MetroNews Talkline.
“When you say universal background checks, what does that really mean? Before I would commit one way or the other, I’d have to see what that would look like.”
She says steps do need to be taken to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.
“If strengthening the background checks through private dealers is the only way that we can achieve that, I think we ought to look at it. But I can’t commit to it not knowing exactly how that would roll out,” said the Congresswoman.
Additional gun control proposals will first be taken up in the U.S. Senate.