ABC This Week interviews during 2018: on Gun Control

Doug Jones: More background checks; raise purchase age to 21

(VIDEO CLIP) JONES: You can't simply demonize the NRA and pro-gun groups. While I know that these groups sometimes take what many, including me, consider extreme positions, they also represent millions of law- abiding gun owners who are concerned that their right to bear arms are at risk.

(END VIDEO) Q: What's your message to everyone we saw march last week who say that the NRA has had a stranglehold on Congress?

JONES: There is some truth to that. And those millions of kids around the country also represent a point of view that we have to do something to stem the tide of gun deaths in this country.

Q: So, what does that mean right now?

JONES: Well, we took a step, that the CDC can start doing some investigation and studies about gun violence. I think we can find that common ground. We can do more on background checks. I'd like to see the age limit of 21 for all semi-automatic weapons. We can have those kind of dialogues.

Doug Jones: No assault weapons ban at this time

JONES: I'm not sure I can go that far just yet. We've got to get done what I think can be done right now. Let's reach across and within our own party to do those things that we can do, and that to me is where I want to focus. I really don't believe that a gun ban is feasible right. And I think that there are things that can be done, that we need to look at.

John Hickenlooper: School shootings weaken country by terrorizing ourselves

Gov. John HICKENLOOPER (D-CO): We're at the point where we're allowing ourselves to be terrorized by ourselves. If you wanted to weaken this country, what better way to do it than to make children afraid to go to school? And it's not just schools; it's churches; it's listening to a country music concert; it's all the places that we create community are now being threatened by our inability to deal with this.

Gov. John KASICH (R-OH): What I've asked people to do is you've got to search your heart on this: this is not about who's got political power; this is not about campaign contributions; this is about how you want to look in the mirror and think about what you'd do when you were in. Nobody wants to take everybody's guns away, nobody wants to repeal the second amendment, oh a few people, but this is about reasonable approaches to keep our community safe.