Democratic Sen. Mark Warner says he supports banning assault-style weapons. The Virginia legislator told Norfolk’s The Virginian-Pilot on Friday that “action” is required.
“I don’t know how I can responsibly look at those young people and not say ‘We need to do something,'” Warner told the newspaper.
“We can debate around the edges where and what the perfect solution is…But it’s time for action.”
But Warner admitted it might be difficult to even define “assault weapon” because it is “kind of a vague term.”
That means a “perfect solution” may be unobtainable because “You change the trigger, you change the sight, and some weapons are in, some weapons are out.”
However, Warner says Congress should forge ahead nonetheless.
“But the notion that just because it’s hard we shouldn’t do it – I just don’t think we can sit through more of the mass murders and not take action,” he told The Virginian-Pilot.
Warner is departing from his legislative record with comments like that. In the wake of the 2013 Sandy Hook school shooting, Warner continued to resist his party’s growing resistance to assault weapons.
The senator began to waver on his position following the Parkland school shooting and the subsequent March for our Lives protest, suggesting it was an opportune moment to “change our positions and reexamine them.”