Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) signaled a potential shift on Sunday in his position on an assault-style weapons ban, saying it is time for a “legitimate debate.”
“I think it’s time to change our positions and reexamine them,” Warner said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I think it’s time for us to have a legitimate debate about restrictions on gun magazines and assault weapons.”
“You get into definitions, but the basic notion of these weaponized, military weapons need to be off our streets,” he continued.
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Warner was among a handful of Senate Democrats who voted against a ban on assault-style weapons in 2013 following a deadly mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
Warner’s comments on Saturday came a day after hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in cities across the country to demand action on gun control.
The “March for Our Lives” rallies were organized in response to a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., last month that left 17 people dead and 14 others injured.
Since then, students from the school have led calls for lawmakers to take action on gun violence. Among their demands: implementing a ban on assault-style weapons like the AR-15, the style of weapon that was used to carry out the shooting in Parkland.