On March 11, 2013, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Virginia) held the "Preventing Another Newtown: A Conversation on Gun Violence in America" forum in Arlington, VA and during the question and answer segment, MRCTV asked if they'd eventually go after handguns. Moran hesitated and then said those who think government is intruding in their lives are "paranoid", and that he currently supports legislation that would limit the purchase of handguns to no more than one per month.
"I can understand that there's always going to be people who are 'paranoid' over government attempting to intrude into their life and (unintelligible) go after handguns; Although I do support legislation that would limit the purchase of handguns to no more than one a month, which seems to be reasonable," Moran said while asked by MRCTV.
At times throughout the question and answer segment, Moran was visibly shaken and refused to answer a good amount of questions from packed house, who tended to be pro-gun. The panel included Omar Samaha, Advocate with the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence; family member of gun violence victim in Virginia Tech tragedy, David Chipman, ATF Special Agent (retired), advisor to Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Josh Horwitz, Executive Director, Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Earl Cook , Chief of Police, City of Alexandria, Jonathan Lowy, Director of the Legal Action Project, Brady Center to Prevent Gun, and Karen Marangi, Advisor to Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Transcript:
MRCTV: This is going back to crime stats and the like: If you were to go back to the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, if you were to implement another Assault Weapons Ban and crime stats didn't go down and you even put a limit to how many bullets can be in a gun, would this eventually lead to a point you go after handguns?MORAN: I can understand that there's always going to be people who are 'paranoid' over government attempting to intrude into their life and (unintelligible) go after handguns, although I do support legislation that would limit the purchase of handguns to no more than one a month, which seems to be reasonable.