“I’ve been a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights,” Warner said Monday outside the Virginia Capitol, where he was attending an unrelated meeting. “I’ve got an A rating from the NRA. But the status quo isn’t acceptable. I’ve got three daughters.”  “They asked me on Friday evening, ‘Dad, what are you gonna do about this?’ ” Warner added. “There’s got to be a way to put reasonable restrictions, particularly as we look at assault weapons, as we look at these fast clips of ammunition.”  Warner said his resolve to pursue a solution solidified over the weekend while attending a Washington Wizards game. Many people approached him to talk about the tragedy, in which a gunman with a military-style rifle killed 20 first-graders and seven adults.  “I must have had a half-dozen people come up — Colin Powell, actually,” Warner said. “People were just coming up and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to [do something].’ ”  Manchin, a conservative Democrat and National Rifle Association member, told MSNBC that the massacre of 20 children and seven adults made clear the need to consider new regulations on such weapons. Two other adults were wounded in the shooting and are recovering.  “I don’t know anyone in the sporting or hunting arena that goes out with an assault rifle,” Manchin said on “Morning Joe” on Monday. “I don’t know anyone that needs 30 rounds in a clip to go hunting.”  Manchin personifies the group of lawmakers who in the past have blocked efforts to impose stronger regulations on gun ownership. He got an A rating and an endorsement from the NRA in both the 2010 special election and 2012 general election for his seat. In a memorable campaign ad, he shot a copy of a cap-and-trade bill with a rifle.  But on Monday, he said the schoolhouse massacre “changed the dialogue, and it should move beyond dialogue. We need action.” The gun lobby, he said, should be part of that conversation.  “Never before have we seen our babies slaughtered,” Manchin said. “Anybody that’s a proud gun owner, anybody that’s a proud member of the NRA, we’re also proud parents. We’re also proud grandparents.”  Also Monday, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that more than half of Americans see the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday as a sign of broader problems in society, not merely the isolated act of a troubled individual.  The finding reverses a recent trend in which the public saw mass shootings in Tucson and Aurora, Colo., as aberrations that did not reflect underlying problems in American culture.
Democratic senators say steps should be taken to limit access           to military-style weapons.