(CNN) Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas and South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg clashed at Tuesday's Democratic presidential debate over O'Rourke's proposed mandatory buyback of assault-style weapons.

The fight over gun policy at the CNN/New York Times debate was sparked when Buttigieg suggested O'Rourke's proposal was impractical.

"You just made it clear that you don't know how this is actually going to take weapons off the street," he said. "If you can develop the plan further, I think we can have a debate about it. But we can't wait. People are dying in the streets right now."

The former congressman responded that mass shootings are a crisis and Democrats should make the case for farther-reaching gun control measures.

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