U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga) said he’d consider supporting limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines as a part of the new gun-control measures the White House has been working on since the Newtown massacre in December.
The Georgia lawmaker spoke at the Smyrna Community Center on Thursday where he attended the Smyrna Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce breakfast.
“There are some problems and maybe these huge magazines even for someone who says, ‘look, I just use an AR-15 for target practice,’ but do you really need to be standing there shooting at a silhouette a shot a second or even quicker with that kind of weapon? For what purpose?” Gingrey said. “I would be willing to listen to the possibility of the capacity of a magazine.”
Vice President Biden was instructed by President Barack Obama to come up by the end of January with an outline of universally supported gun measures to help curb gun violence in America.
Recently, Biden hinted that there is a growing consensus among some gun-rights groups as well as U.S. lawmakers on restricting the use of high capacity magazines and introducing detailed universal background checks.
Gingrey also said on Thursday that he’d support more thorough background checks and that they should be required even when buying a used gun from a private person.
Using as an example the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, Gingrey said the background checks should include information about those diagnosed with mental instability even if they have never been hospitalized.
Gingrey is a conservative Republican representing Georgia’s 11th congressional district.
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