Brooks: Even Banning Future Gun Purchases Wouldn’t Reduce Amount of Guns, You Need Buyback Like Australia

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks argued that even a ban on future purchases of guns would not reduce the number of guns in America and that reducing the number of guns in America would require something akin to an Australia-style gun buyback program. And that he has never understood why a gun buyback like Australia’s “is an affront to anybody.” Because it’s a choice whether to sell your gun back or not.

Brooks began by saying that the chance of the federal government taking further action on guns “Seems remote.”

He added, “I’ve never understood why an Australian-style gun buyback is an affront to anybody. It’s an open choice. You can sell your gun or not. But if we’re going to reduce 400 million guns, it would take something like that, not even just banning future purchases. I mean, we’ve got 400 million here.”

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