Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican and Army veteran who called on President Donald Trump to enact an immediate temporary ban on AR-15 rifles in the wake of the Parkland high school shooting, appeared on CNN’s New Day to outline his position.

Mast, who once lived in Parkland, the South Florida town in which a gunman opened fire with an AR-15 at a high school, killing 17, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in which he detailed the devastation of such a weapon and called for its banning.

“We have to do something about this, we have to protect our communities,” Mast told Alisyn Camerota on CNN.

Camerota noted that Mast is a combat veteran, carries a gun and has an A-rating from the NRA, and asked for his thoughts on the argument that the only way to stop a “bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

“I look at this tactically,” Mast said, before explaining the “tactical disadvantage” of not being able to conceal-carry an AR-15, which makes it harder to defend oneself.

In response to NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch’s argument that young women should be able to defend themselves with AR-15s, Mast said he doesn’t want anyone to have the right to defend themselves taken away.

“Our second amendment is an unimpeachable, God-given right to defend ourselves,” he said. “It’s one of the most basic rights. But we recognize that there’s a balance between what is a level of lethality, what is that firepower.”

Mast went on to explain that certain weapons are banned, and that there’s a line that needs to be drawn on the legality of high caliber firearms.

He also noted that none of his Republican colleagues in the House have faith that the current system will stop the next mass shooter, and that “many of them are” open to making changes to the current gun laws.

“Not one more death inside of a school,” Mast declared. “Not one more school shooting.”

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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