During an interview Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," Kasich, who earned the endorsement of the National Rifle Association during his 2014 re-election campaign, indicated he would support "reasonable things," such as full background checks for people buying guns and banning what are known as bump stocks, which allow a semi-automatic weapon to fire like an automatic weapon.
âYouâre never going to fix all of this,â Kasich said. âBut common-sense gun laws make sense.â
In a major reversal, Kasich suggested he might support a ban on an the sale of AR-15 semiautomatic weapons like the one used in the Florida attack. Kasich said, "If all of a sudden you couldn't buy an AR-15, what would you lose? Would you feel as though your Second Amendment rights would be eroded because you couldn't buy a God-darned AR-15?"
âThese are the things that have to be looked at and action has to happen,â Kasich said.
In 1994 as a member of Congress, Kasich voted to ban the production and sale of 19 semi-automatic assault weapons. But when he ran for president in 2016, Kasich called the ban âsuperfluous and we donât need laws that are superfluous. It didnât have any impact.â
The ban on the sale of semiautomatic weapons expired in 2004 when Congress failed to renew it.
Kasich said he has formed a committee âon both sides of the issueâ in Ohio to âlook at everythingâ about improving gun safety. Neither Kasich nor his aides have said who is on the committee, but he said he was âhopefulâ they would produce recommendations.
âIf they donât produce anything, Iâll put my own stuff out,â Kasich said.
David Pepper, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said he was âgladâ Kasich is on national TV and âspeaking outâ on guns.
âHopefully heâs got some ability to work with the statehouse to find solutions and roll back some of the worst pieces of legislation they pushed through in the last seven years,â Pepper said.