Sen. Joe Manchin Joseph (Joe) ManchinThe debate over the filibuster entirely misses the point Trump plans to pick Amy Coney Barrett to replace Ginsburg on court Day before Trump refused to commit to peaceful transition, Aaron Sorkin described how he would write election night MORE (D-W.V.) said Sunday that President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE has a “golden opportunity” to secure meaningful gun reforms in the wake of two deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

“President Trump has a golden opportunity to start making America safe again by starting with this basic building block of background checks,” Manchin said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

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“It’s been very encouraging with the dialogue going back and forth,” he added.

With the number of mass shootings in the news, “people are afraid to go out… they’re concerned about this, and we shouldn’t be living in fear in America,” Manchin said.

The West Virginia Democrat and Sen. Pat Toomey Patrick (Pat) Joseph ToomeyAppeals court rules NSA's bulk phone data collection illegal Dunford withdraws from consideration to chair coronavirus oversight panel GOP senators push for quick, partial reopening of economy MORE (R-Pa.) co-sponsored a defeated gun control amendment in 2013 that would have required background checks for most gun sales between private parties.

CBS’s Margaret Brennan on Sunday noted comments from House Minority Whip Steve Scalise Stephen (Steve) Joseph ScaliseGinsburg becomes the first woman to lie in state in the Capitol House GOP slated to unveil agenda ahead of election House panel details 'serious' concerns around Florida, Georgia, Texas, Wisconsin elections MORE (R-La.), who said on the show last Sunday that existing gun background check measures were sufficient. Scalise himself was severely wounded by a gunman in 2017.

“I respectfully disagree with Steve,” Manchin said, adding that “I’m a law-abiding gun owner, I’ll do the right thing” but that he would never sell a gun through a gun show or the Internet to someone whose history he could not be sure of.

“There’s no promise on any of this right now, but we have good dialogue … it’s very encouraging, [President Trump] wants something to happen,” Manchin added.

Since the shootings, Trump has called for strengthening the background check system, but has also repeatedly blamed the shootings on mental illness, despite groups such as the American Psychological Association stating that blaming mental illness for gun violence is simplistic and inaccurate.