Rep. Mo Brooks: Rise in mass shootings due to 'decline in moral values'

Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., believes that the key to combating mass shootings is not more gun control, but addressing root causes behind violent behavior.

In an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," the congressman and Senate hopeful noted that when he was in school, it was common for him and others to keep guns in their cars because they hunted, yet school shootings like the one that took place last week in Uvalde, Texas, did not occur.

"What we have to do is stop the motivation that causes these criminals, these horrific individuals to do what they do," Brooks said.

"What’s the big difference between when I was growing up and today?" he asked. "The big difference is the decline in moral values, the decline in the respect for human life. If we teach proper moral values, if we teach respect for human life, if we properly address mental health issues that may, somehow or another, be associated with all these things, then that is the way to fix the problem."

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Earlier in the interview, Brooks face a question about whether he might support any kind of new gun laws. He stated that the point of the Second Amendment is "to help ensure that we, the citizenry, always have the right to take back our government should it become dictatorial."

"And as long as we enjoy uninfringed Second Amendment rights," he added, "then we don’t really have to worry that much about the government ever becoming dictatorial. But the moment that we take from our citizenry our ability to take our government back is the moment that the ability of dictatorial forces increases to the point where perhaps they will try to implement a dictatorial government at the federal level."

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With that in mind, Brooks noted that the Second Amendment says that the right to keep and bear arms "shall not be infringed." He said if there are proposals for legislation that would guarantee people's Second Amendment rights, "then I'll consider them," but otherwise they would be unconstitutional and "not the proper way to go if you want to preserve our freedoms."

The Alabama congressman noted that he holds these beliefs despite having been a primary target during a shooting – the one that took place at a Virginia baseball field in June 2017. Shooter James Hodgkinson had a list of names in his pocket at the time, and Brooks was one of them.

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"So I’ve been in the middle of one of these things," Brooks said.

Brooks is currently facing a Senate GOP primary run-off for Senate against Katie Britt, with an election scheduled for June 21. In the initial Alabama primary, Britt received 44.7% of the votes, compared to 29.2% for Brooks, but third challenger Mike Durant, who will not be in the run-off, had 23.3%.