Four Democrats advocate gun control legislation following Colorado shooting

— -- Four Democrats on Tuesday stood alone in the wake of the mass shooting in Aurora, Colo. to voice support for new legislation aimed to combat gun violence.

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez joined Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey Tuesday to voice support for Lautenberg's bill outlawing the sale of high-capacity gun magazines.

"I hope that this does spark a national conversation about where we go in terms of reasonable gun control measures," Menendez told reporters gathered for a press conference on the issue, "so that no one like Alex Teves, who grew up in New Jersey and found himself in Colorado, will ever again be gunned down by a man who could build an arsenal with a click of a mouse and have it delivered to his door by the cart load-- ammunition, high capacity clips, explosives, bomb-making materials-- all within the law."

"I think the world is watching," Menendez added.

As Yahoo News reported, the issue of gun control  emerged this weekend in downballot races around the country, but most lawmakers, including those at the White House, have not expressed a desire to push for gun control legislation in the wake of the tragedy.

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein this weekend cautioned politicians against wading into the issue in an election year."It's a bad time to embrace a new subject," the California lawmaker and gun control advocate said on "Fox News Sunday."

The Democrats speaking out Tuesday urged their colleagues to join with them to newly address gun violence and rejected reporters' questions about why they were taking up an issue that appeared to have little chance of passage this session.