Horsford says he’d back an assault weapons ban

By Karoun Demirjian

Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012 | 7:15 p.m.

Sam Morris

Newly elected congressman Steven Horsford gives his acceptance speech during the Nevada State Democrats' election night party early Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012 at Mandalay Bay.

Incoming Rep. Steven Horsford said Thursday that he’d vote in favor of an assault weapons ban if it is presented to Congress as part of the package of violence mitigation measures President Barack Obama appointed a task force to come up with by January.

“I support the law that was in place to ban assault weapons that are designed for military use,” Horsford said, adding that he hoped that federal funding for mental health care was also part of the government’s response to the tragic shooting that took the lives of 20 first-graders and six of their teachers, plus the gunman and his mother, in Newtown, Conn., last Friday.

Horsford’s father was killed in an act of gun violence when he was 19. He also has a daughter, he said, who is the same age as the 20 children who were killed in Newtown.

“I come at this not as an elected official but as a parent,” he said. “My view is that we need to move from a culture of violence to a culture of safety.”