Manchin says the NRA should be part of the conversation. Pro-gun Sen. Manchin: Time to act

West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — who has an “A” rating from the NRA and is a lifetime member of the pro-gun rights group — said Monday that it was time to “move beyond rhetoric” on gun control.

“I just came with my family from deer hunting,” Manchin said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I’ve never had more than three shells in a clip. Sometimes you don’t get more than one shot anyway at a deer. It’s common sense. It’s time to move beyond rhetoric. We need to sit down and have a common-sense discussion and move in a reasonable way.”


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Manchin, who declined to say what specific restrictions he would support, said the NRA should have a role in the debate over legislative changes to gun law.

“I want to call all our friends in the NRA, sit down and have this discussion,” he said. “Bring them into it. They have to be at the table. We all have to.”

But Manchin did hint at what restrictions he would allow.

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“I don’t know anyone in the hunting or sporting arena that goes out with an assault rifle,” he said. “I don’t know anybody that needs 30 rounds in the clip to go hunting. I mean, these are things that need to be talked about.”

In the past, the NRA has opposed both the assault weapons ban and a ban on extended magazines. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Sunday she would reintroduce the federal ban on assault weapons, which lapsed in 2004. Legislation banning extended magazines was introduced in 2011 after the mass shooting that injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, but failed to go anywhere.

Manchin also said more than gun control might be needed to prevent future mass shootings.

“This is bigger than just about the guns,” he said. “It’s about how we treat people with mental illness, how we intervene, how we give them the care they need, how we protect our schools.”

A conservative Democrat, Manchin famously used a rifle to shoot a piece of climate control legislation in a television ad. The National Rifle Association endorsed his reelection bid.

All 31 senators with an “A” rating from the NRA declined to appear on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” to discuss gun control, according to host David Gregory.

Manchin appears to be the most prominent gun rights supporter to discuss the issue on the national stage since Friday’s massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Twenty-seven people, including 20 children, died at the school.

“I think opening up and seeing a massacre like this, of innocent children, it’s changed things,” Manchin said. “It’s changed America.”

“Never before have we seen our babies slaughtered,” he added. “It’s never happened in America that I can recall, ever seeing this type of carnage. Anybody, anybody that lives in America, anybody that’s a proud gun owner, anyone that’s a proud member of the NRA, they’re also proud parents, they’re proud grandparents. They understand this has changed where we go from here.”