BUFFALO, N.Y. --  A day after the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Republican Congressman Chris Collins sharply criticized Democrats for using the tragedy to push for new gun control laws.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz saw the interview with Spectrum News and last week decided to take Collins up on his call for discussions.

"Chris and I have our cell phones," Poloncarz said. "We occassionally speak to each other about governmental issues and I called him and I said, 'let's have an honest conversation about this.'"

Poloncarz said the two spoke candidly for roughly 20 minutes about the issues but he suggested they take it a step further.

"I said what if we do it in a location which is a neutral location with a moderator, would you be willing to do that, and he sort of hemmed and hawed but I took it as maybe it's something he'd be interested in," he said.

Collins has been steadfast in his opposition to town hall style forums but the county executive suggested a format where the conversation would be televised but hypothetically could be closed to the public. Poloncarz said he reached out to public broadcaster WNED-TV and the station was more than willing to host the debate.

"I sent a text message to Chris saying 'let's do this,'" he said. "Let's get this done. We sent the letter to his office by email and fax and I think we need to have a common sense conversation about what we can do in this country, which I believe is the passage of common sense gun laws."

Collins' campaign quickly turned down the offer.

"It's comical that Mark Poloncarz - who doesn't actually have the courage of his convictions to run for federal office - now wants to be a surrogate attack dog and exploit the Parkland tragedy for his own political gain," spokesperson Chris Grant said in a statement.

The campaign instead said they'd be happy to send Republican Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw to participate in his place.