U.S. Senator Joe Manchin says now is the time for serious discussions about gun restrictions in the United States.
“We have this horrific, horrific crime against our children. It needs to be dealt with and it needs to be done in the most serious fashion,” Senator Manchin said on Monday’s MetroNews Talkline, days after 20 children and six adults were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Investigators say the shooter, Adam Lanza, 20, shot his way into the school and opened fire on an entire class of young students before killing himself. He had earlier killed his mother, Nancy.
According to police, one of guns Lanza had with him was a Bushmaster .223 assault style rifle. He fired dozens of high velocity rounds from it, hitting each of the victims multiple times.
Senator Manchin says his call for a look at additional gun control measures is not about being against responsible gun ownership.
“I’m a life member and a proud member of NRA and a proud defender of the Second Amendment to the Constitution, the right to bear arms, and will always be. This is not what this is about,” he said.
He says, instead, it’s time to consider limiting the availability of high powered assault weapons, the kinds of guns the Senator says most gun owners in West Virginia do not have. “These are the people I know,” Senator Manchin said.
“I don’t know this other segment of society that believes it so imperative that they’re able to keep their assault rifles and go hunting and do all the other things they need 30 round clips and 2,000 rounds (for). I don’t know those people.”
He was scheduled to meet with representatives of the National Rifle Association on Monday and said he was planning to look at legislation from California Senator Dianne Feinstein that would reauthorize the ban on assault weapons that was in effect from 1994 to 2004.
Senator Manchin, who was also a guest on MSNBC on Monday, says discussions in the coming days, weeks and months also need to include a broader look at mental health treatment diagnosis and treatment programs in the United States.
“We have never seen the children of America slaughtered in America. We’ve never seen, never could imagine it. These are babies,” Senator Manchin said.
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Comments
Larry B
Good job Joe!
December 17, 2012 at 12:18 pm | Report comment
Don
Great job Joe! This may be the first time he has taken a stand on anything when someone didn't tell him what to say!!!
December 17, 2012 at 6:10 pm | Report comment
John
If Manchin doesn't know the people who own semi-automatic firearms, then he doesn't know his constituents. Any firearm becomes an assault weapon when it is used to uh assault. If Manchin wants to retire early, then he should pursue this. An inaminate piece of metal cannot harm anyone. Why does anyone think these things always happen in gun free zones? The problem in Connecticut wasn't that there was too many guns, it was that there wasn't enough of them. A legally armed and responsible citizen with a firearm, could have saved lives and stopped this lunatic. From my cold dead hands, Mr. Manchin.
December 17, 2012 at 12:29 pm | Report comment
Tim C
Here we go again. Gun control advocates beating their drums. Connecticut has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Did they help these poor children? Maybe if that principal had an M4 locked in her office she and all those precious little children would be alive today. This is a horrible tragedy but it speaks volumes on how we have desensitized our youth in having little or no respect for human life. Maybe if this guys poor mom had had him in church all his life it wouldn't have come to this.
December 17, 2012 at 12:36 pm | Report comment
Steve
How could SWAT officials, principals, and other officials differentiate one another? That would likely lead to many more deaths.
December 20, 2012 at 11:58 am | Report comment
John
Amen Tim C.
December 17, 2012 at 12:46 pm | Report comment
Michael
For you who think guns don't kill peole, people kill people...your are 100% correct. But Senator Manchin is correct as well...who in their right , or wrong mind, needs an automatic weapon that can discharge 50 bullets in a matter of seconds. There is no reason why any gun should have a capacity clip of more than 5 bullets. I am sure in this instance there would still have been loss of life, which is horrible for one to die, but for 26 people in all. NO AUTOMATIC WEAPONS!!!
December 17, 2012 at 12:52 pm | Report comment
Shawn
Automatic weapons are already illegal and have been for years. You are lecturing on gun control and you don't even know the difference between automatic and semi-automatic. Get a clue.
December 17, 2012 at 1:22 pm | Report comment
Jeff Armentrout
Michael, none of the weapons used in this heinous crime were automatic weapons. They were semi-automatic, there is a difference.....obviously you did not understand the article.
December 17, 2012 at 4:39 pm | Report comment
Dustin Lowdermilk
After the Senator bans "assault" weapons cause of this shooting? He can refocus our valuable tax dollars on banning "BuckWild" from MTV.. Then perhaps the next ban will be aircraft.. They were used in the trade center attacks where people died.. After that? Ban Automobiles.. People are killed by automobiles everyday.. All these things everday life that COULD be used as a deadly weapon? The only thing that needs to be banned or seriously reformed in this society are politicians.. Politicians who the people vote for, the people pay the salaries of, just for these educated individuals to become expert liars and manipulators... So ban politicians i say...
December 18, 2012 at 9:10 am | Report comment
Jack S.
His mother was a responsible gun owner, probably like you. She took her sons target shooting and taught them saftey - so says her friends. But then you have to get real folks. If he did not have access to the AR-15 or 30-round clips less kids would have died...period. If the principal had a gun locked up in her office that would not guarantee anything. You wouldn't pay for security guards at the schools. There will always be disturbed, evil, or mentally ill people, but we don't have to allow sales of certain types of weapons or ammo to preserve our freedom.
December 17, 2012 at 1:07 pm | Report comment
cutty77
Joe this is stupid.You do a ADD with a Gun in it,so where are you coming from on this statement.We have to do whatever it takes to protect our children when they are at school.School should be a safe place Joe.Get off your soapbox,and do something about it.Quit talking about it.Ben Franklin said WELL DONE IS BETTER THAN WELL SAID.
December 17, 2012 at 3:46 pm | Report comment
Jim
Joe,
What restrictions would have prevented this? I know you feel as if you have to do something. Will it work? Connecticut's restrictive gun laws didn't work. Are you proposing even stricter laws than that? All you will do is disarm law abiding people, and more of them will be killed by lawless criminals.
December 17, 2012 at 4:03 pm | Report comment
Bob P.
I fully agree with Senator Manchin, but think the politicians who allowed the bill which restricted semi-automatic weapons to be retracted have blood on their hands today. This guy had body armor so even if teachers were armed, he would likely have still gotten so some. One of our children died (not related to violence) and just let me say that you cannot ever imagine the things those parents are now and in the future going to deal with until you are in that situation. All for what...so some adults can play "army" with rapid fire weapons?
December 17, 2012 at 4:27 pm | Report comment
Jeff Armentrout
This article shows just how far out of touch Senator Manchin really is with his constituents here in WV. It is obvious that he does not know many of them. I know many people around our great state. A large percentage of them have AR 15, and M14 rifles. These that I know are very law-abiding, and shoot recreationally quite often. More in WV have and are getting these types of guns all the time.
Wake up Joe, meet some of the regular people in WV, and get away from the uppity crowd and you will be suprised how many people posses these guns.
December 17, 2012 at 4:36 pm | Report comment
Harold Bennett Jr
The problem IS NOT with the guns. It is the person handling it. As for Michael, fully automatic guns have been outlawed since the 1930's. The Second Amendment was not written by our Founding Fathers to insure we can hunt. You folks who are gung to outlaw guns desperately need to study the real unabridged history of our once great nation. Those old men were smart beyond their years and beyond their times. They all said back then this right was to protect us from ALL enemies foreign and domestic. NO, I AM NOT saying to start another violent revolution. However, Benjamin Franklin did say a little revolution now and then is a good thing. We need one to start with our writing pens and end at the ballot box.Our problem is not the guns, it is the evil hearts we carry in us and the systematic throwing God out of everywhere. If we really want to get a handle on our problems we need to get our kids back in church and away from the evil video games and all the idle time they have on their hands. Parents need to once again learn how to be parents, which means spending time with them from the early years and through their whole lives.
Sadly events like this will happen again, but we can educate our kids, love them and teach them right from wrong to eliminate as many of these terrible things as possible. Getting God back into our lives is the ONLY thing that will work to avoid these things.
December 17, 2012 at 6:10 pm | Report comment
Jim
Where or who ever came up with term "assualt weapon". The Bloomberg ilk tried "black guns" first and that did not play well, so, the term "assualt rifle" has the connotations they we were looking for--forboding and threatening, the type to storm a beach head with--that works. The problem folks is not firearms, it's society. We have become such a politically correct nation that we are so afraid of offending any segment of society, such as ultra-violent video games and movies and TV programs that glorify murder which is Hollywood's staple. If it doesn't have murder in the movie or TV show it will probably flop. Hollywood "stars" are portrayed using guns to kill people as it were a normal act and the right thing to do. But, society doesn't want to "infringe" on their right to free speech, but you have no problem trampling on my 2nd Amendment rights?
December 17, 2012 at 7:11 pm | Report comment
Jim
I find it most interesting that the president goes before the folks at Newtown, Conn. and proclaims that I'll do everything in my power to stop this from happening again. O.K., Mr. President, you are the same person whose administration permitted "gun walking" accross the Mexican Border and those "assualt rifles" are responsible for hundreds of Mexican lives, yet your att'y gen. testified that he had no knowledge of it? You are the same president that granted the att'y gen. executive privledge and refused Congress access to internal ATF documents. So, to put this in context: it's o.k. for your appointed officials, at the highest level, to "walk" illegal guns accross the border with impunity, yet you are going to restrict my constitutional rights? Reprehensible behavior!
December 17, 2012 at 7:20 pm | Report comment
Buck
Fire Joe.
December 17, 2012 at 7:46 pm | Report comment
Don
This tragic event was caused by a sick individual not a gun. Now that Mr Manchin has won reelected he is showing his true colors. If outlawing guns was the answer there would be no mass killings in Mexico and Chicago and DC would be the safest places in the U.S.
December 17, 2012 at 7:53 pm | Report comment