Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine), a conservative Democrat, reversed his previously held opposition and said on Thursday that he now supports an assault weapons ban following a mass shooting in his state.

“I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime,” Golden said at a news conference in Lewiston, Maine. “The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure, which is why I now call on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles.”

Golden said he would work with “any colleague to get this done in the time that I have left in Congress.”

His reversal won immediate praise from fellow Democrats, including those who have called for tight gun restrictions.

“Powerful, brave, and moving. This is leadership,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wrote on X.

He spoke alongside a fellow moderate, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who called for a ban on “very high-capacity magazines — I think that would have more input and more effectiveness.”

“There’s always more that we can do,” she said.

Officials have saidat least 18 people were killed in a series of mass shootings Wednesday in the area. Law enforcement officers had surrounded a house near Bowdoin, Maine, on Thursday night and were calling for anyone inside to surrender.

Related posts:

House majority may hinge on the Rio Grande Valley Manchin emphatic he ‘will not vote’ to kill the filibuster McConnell agrees to allow Senate power-sharing to move forward Rand Paul to force vote on constitutionality of Trump impeachment trial Democrats clash over aid for first-time homebuyers Sasse to Biden: ‘Stop listening to all of your advisers who say Zelenskyy is a dead man walking’ McConnell says he hasn’t decided how he’ll vote on Ketanji Brown Jackson Fiscal winter is coming: Lawmakers’ 5 chilly hills to climb Biden projects Dems will fall short of House majority Sinema outraised by Gallego again, further clouding her future House Republicans look to lock in their speaker pick behind closed doors Steve Scalise is the GOP’s next pick for speaker