Martin O'Malley Calls For Stricter Gun Laws After Virginia Shooting.

In interview, former Maryland governor cites the laws he enacted in his state.

At a campaign stop Wednesday in New Hampshire, hours after a gunman in Virginia killed two journalists during a live broadcast, Martin O'Malley promised to push for "sensible gun safety legislation" if elected president.

"My heart goes out to the family members who lost people today in Virginia. Really Awful," the underdog Democratic presidential candidate said in Manchester. "I haven't seen the news footage itself but I've been told about it. Tragic and awful. No country has the problem that our country has with gun violence and lives being taken from us by gun violence."

In an interview with Bloomberg, O'Malley said the priority must be mandatory background checks for firearm purchases.

"The most important thing is background checks," he said. "And databases that are actually connected and open for law enforcement to share information."

Current federal law doesn't require criminal background checks for sales at gun shows or over the Internet, which can make it easier for criminals and dangerous mentally ill people to acquire firearms. Congress tried and failed to change that policy in 2013 after the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut that left six adults and 20 schoolchildren dead.

O'Malley also expressed support for a ban on assault weapons, arguing that "combat weapons should not be available for sale and use on the streets of our neighborhoods and our cities and towns." A federal ban on sales of assault-type weapons, in place for 10 years, expired in 2004 because of congressional inaction.

The former Maryland governor touted a bill he signed in 2013 that made his state's gun laws among the strictest in the country. It banned 45 types of assault weapons, limited gun magazines to 10 bullets, required handgun buyers to provide fingerprints and prohibited firearm ownership for people who've been involuntarily committed to a mental health facility.

O'Malley, who is polling far behind Democratic rivals Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, highlighted his divergence from Sanders, who is drawing enormous crowds and hefty praise from progressives for his economic proposals, but has faced criticism from the left for his mixed record on gun policies. On guns, O'Malley said he has a "big policy difference" with the Vermont lawmaker, who in 1993 voted against the Brady Bill (which strengthened background check laws and impose a five-day waiting period for handgun sales) and, more recently, in favor of legally shielding gun makers and dealers from liability if guns they sell are used for criminal purposes. . .

"The NRA also tried to prevent us from passing the legislation we passed in our state, but we forged a new consensus," he said. "I think that the NRA probably sees that we're actually effective at getting sensible gun safety legislation passed, and that's why they dislike me so."

The shooting of the journalists in Virginia was the latest reminder that gun violence is on the rise nationally. The Washington Post reported Wednesday on a study which found that in 2015, mass shootings have averaged about one per day.

O'Malley reiterated a goal he unveiled earlier this month to cut U.S. deaths from gun violence in half by 2025.

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-27/martin-o-malley-calls-for-stricter-gun-laws-after-virginia-shooting