(CNN) – The progression of public attitude toward an acceptance of same-sex marriage can also be seen in the quest for more restrictive gun control laws, Vice President Joe Biden asserted in an interview published Thursday.
Biden, who led the Obama administration task force to develop proposals for new gun laws, said Americans' stance on guns had changed after the Newtown school shooting, but that some lawmakers have yet to acknowledge the shift.
"My argument was, 'You've got it wrong. The public has changed.' And guess what? It turns out we were right," Biden told Rolling Stone. "To use the vernacular, there's suddenly a lot of senators out there who have seen the Lord."
Noting the blowback Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire, has received for her "no" vote on expanding background checks on gun sales, Biden said he could name "four senators who called me and said, 'Jesus, I guess you were right – maybe we can find some other way of doing this. Can we bring this back up?'" – though in the interview he did not actually name those lawmakers.
Recalling his very public endorsement of same-sex marriage – he came out in support of the issue ahead of President Obama – Biden said a similar change could be seen on guns.
"I got blowback from everybody but the president," he recalled. "I walked in that Monday, he had a big grin on his face, he put his arms around me and said, 'Well, Joe, God love you, you say what you think.' I knew he agreed with me. It wasn't like he was in a different place. My point is: That's where the public is on guns. There has been a seminal shift in the attitude of the American public toward gun safety."
While gun control advocates received a substantial setback in April when the Senate defeated measures expanding background checks, the fight is not yet over, Biden said.
"We're going right back at it. The biggest thing that's changed is that the people who were for the background checks are saying it will be a determining issue. There's pace on the ball now; this is a different country. I'm convinced we'll be able to bring this back up, and I'm convinced we can win this."
In the wide-ranging interview with Rolling Stone, Biden also explained at length the administration's stance on climate change and Syria, and expounded on his own relationship with Obama.
Read the full Q and A with Rolling Stone here.