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A week ago, extremely moderate Democratic Sen. Mark Warner (VA) was mulling over his position on assault weapons, having apparently reached the same tipping point as millions of Americans when the kids from Parkland Florida started calling "BS." The intervening week has solidified it for him. This senator who once voted against an assault-weapons ban would now support one, with some caveats.
"You change the trigger, you change the sight, and some weapons are in, some weapons are out. There's not going to be a perfect solution," Warner said, in remarks first reported by the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. "But the notion that just because it's hard we shouldn't do it—I just don't think we can sit through more of the mass murders and not take action."
Warner had been hinting that he might support a new version of the assault-weapons ban, which expired in 2004 and was not given a new vote until 2013, in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
At that time, Warner was one of 15 Democrats to oppose the ban; seven of those senators have since retired or been defeated in reelection bids.
This debate has changed, and more elected Democrats get it. This is a new moment, too long in coming.