There is a good chance that gun control legislation will contribute to reducing the ability to reduce the number of guns to a “low” level

On Friday’s PBS NewsHour New York Times Columnist David Brooks reacted to calls for gun control in the aftermath of the Jacksonville shooting and tried to blame the shooting on Florida gun laws by saying that because there already has so many guns in the United States, he has “little hope that gun control legislation will be passed.” it will reduce people’s ability to obtain weapons. And that the shooting was a case where someone should have raised a red flag about how dangerous the shooter was before killing people.

Guest host John Yang asked, “There was also another shooting in Jacksonville last weekend, where someone who clearly left a lot of writing about his hatred for black Americans, for black people, killed three people. Many people in Florida point to lax gun laws, especially concealed carry. You can carry a concealed weapon without a permit. Is that a fair connection, David?

Brooks replied, “Well, I think if you reduce – I mean, we have hundreds of millions of guns in this country. So I have little hope that gun control legislation will reduce people’s ability to get guns. But I think it was a case of the guy having previous suicidal tendencies and reading this bullshit online. And hopefully – in those cases, hopefully a family member or a friend can just tell somebody, red flag here, because that kind of case, it fits all stereotypes of someone who is going to do this horrible thing.