Gun culture isn't what it used to be in the United States, Vice President Joe Biden argued Thursday in a taped roundtable discussion on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Biden hearkened back to his childhood and his father's gun collection and the way his father took pride in his weapons and taught Biden their danger and power. "It used to be we were dealing almost exclusively with hunters," Biden said.
"There is a whole new sort of group of individuals now ... that never hunt at all. But they own guns for one of two reasons: self-protection, or they just like the feel of that AR-15 at the range. They like the way it feels- it's like driving a Ferrari."
An assault weapons ban currently has little to no hope of passage in the Senate and has taken a backseat to universal background checks in discussions this week by White House major players pressing Congress to swiftly act on gun control.
But during Thursday's roundtable Biden was advocated against assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
When the roundtable raised the issue of how to address assault weapons and high capacity magazines that are already in use and in circulation, Biden responded that recent mass shootings using high capacity equipment weren't already in use or circulation. "They purchased them as they decided to engage in these-- this absolutely irrational act," Biden said. "The mentally ill don't, all of a sudden, say ... 'I've had this high capacity magazine for the last 20 years or the last two years or five years, I think I'll go and kill some people.'"
Biden's appearance Thursday capped off a string of appearances made by top White House players this week on gun violence.
The president spoke on Monday in Hartford, Conn., about the December shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. On Tuesday, Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder held an event with law enforcement at the White House to implore lawmakers not to filibuster legislation. And first lady Michelle Obama urged Congress to act Wednesday night during a speech in Chicago.
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