Politics

Manchin Resists Calls To Scrap Filibuster To Push Through Gun Control, Says He’s Open To Reform

REUTERS/Tom Brenner

Brianna Lyman News and Commentary Writer
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Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin resisted calls to scrap the filibuster while saying he supports tighter gun control following Tuesday’s mass shooting at a Texas elementary school.

Manchin called Tuesday’s shooting “just absolutely horrific,” according to The Hill.

“You all know where I stand; I’ll do anything I can.”

Manchin said “it makes no sense at all why we can’t do common sense things and try to prevent some of this from happening.”

“It’s unbelievable how we’ve gotten to a society where someone could be this deranged and this sick,” he reportedly continued. (RELATED: ‘These Barbarians’: Scarborough Attacks Republicans, Manchin Over Gun Laws)

Manchin stopped short of supporting nuking the filibuster when asked whether he would consider it in order to pass gun control laws, however.

“The filibuster is the only thing that prevents us from total insanity. Total insanity,” Manchin said.

Eighteen-year-old Salvador Ramos opened fire Tuesday at Robb Elementary School in Ulvade, killing at least 19 students and two teachers. A border patrol agent rushed into the school and found Ramos barricaded, a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition on anonymity told the Associated Press (AP). The agent then fatally shot Ramos, according to the report. The agent was reportedly injured though it is unclear how.

Manchin has bucked calls to scrap the filibuster in the past, saying in January that “we need some good rule changes to make the place work better. But getting rid of the filibuster doesn’t make the place work better.”

He doubled down on his comments days later, saying he absolutely would not vote to “eliminate or weaken the filibuster.”

“The filibuster plays an important role in protecting our democracy from the transitory passions of the majority and respecting the input of the minority in the Senate,” he noted.