West Virginia Democrat Senator Joe Manchin announced this week that he will support a proposed ban on assault weapons.
Despite being known for his conservative values and general defense of the Second Amendment, Manchin folded in with his party’s plan for these guns.
“I never thought I had a need for that type of a high-capacity automatic weapon,” Manchin told CNN Monday. “I like to shoot, I like to go out and hunt. I like to go out sports shooting. I do all of that. But I’ve never felt I needed something of that magnitude.”
Despite his new position, Manchin suggested he may still turn down an outright ban as proposed by the House, saying he is open to looking at it but only if it makes “gun sense”.
“I wouldn’t have a problem on looking at looking at some of these things that would have prevented it,” Manchin said, “It depends on what they, how they would approach it. I’m open to anything that makes gun sense.”
The only actual idea Senator Manchin proposed, however, was to raise the purchasing age from 18 to 21 for these specific weapons.
“Why do we have driver’s license? Why is there a certain age for everything that we do in this society?’ he asked. “It’s always been accepted. So I don’t see how this one thing can be any different than other things we do.”
This proposal, while fairly popular, is a far cry from the ideas being pushed by other members of his party, including Vice President Kamala Harris who proposed a total ban on the guns.
Joe Manchin has acted as a frequent foil to Biden and the Democrat agenda, oftentimes refusing to join them in votes despite the 50-50 Senate split. He has bucked them on things like Biden’s infrastructure bill as well as their attempts to end the legislative filibuster. Do you think he actually believes in gun control or is this just a way for him to try and have his cake and eat it too?
