“I grew up in this hunting culture, but this is nuts,” said the Southern-born former president, as he spoke at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The speech was recorded by the Associated Press.

“Why does anybody need a … 30-round clip for a gun?” said Clinton, who in 1994 signed the assault weapons ban into law. It lapsed a decade later.

“Why does anybody need one of those things that carries 100 bullets? The guy in Colorado had one of those,” said Clinton, referring to the movie theater massacre in Aurora, Colo., last year. “Half of all mass killings in the U.S. occurred since the assault weapons ban expired in 2005.”