Rep. Jared Golden of Maine.
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
A Maine Democratic congressman has now backtracked on his opposition to ban assault weapons.
“The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure,” Rep. Jared Golden said.
Golden reversed his stance in the wake of the deadly Lewiston massing shootings.
A Democratic Maine congressman has backtracked on his opposition to an assault weapons ban in the wake of the deadly Lewiston mass shootings, calling his previous stance a “failure.”
“Out of fear of this dangerous world that we live in, in my determination to protect my own daughter and wife in our home and in our community, because of a false confidence that our community was above this, and that we could be in full control, among many other misjudgments, I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime,” Rep. Jared Golden told reporters at a Thursday press conference.
Golden, a Marine Corps veteran, added, “The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure.”
The Maine lawmaker then called on Congress “to ban assault rifles, like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing in my hometown of Lewiston, Maine.”
Eighteen people were killed and more than a dozen wounded when a gunman went on a shooting rampage on Wednesday in the city of Lewiston. The shooting suspect remains on the run.