Sen. Rick Scott rejected Sunday the concept of buying back firearms from gun owners, a proposal gaining support among Democrats this year after mass shootings.

“I believe in the Second Amendment. I don’t want to take guns away from law-abiding citizens. I want to focus on the people that have mental illness. That’s my focus,” the Florida Republican said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Asked if he thought there were “too many guns,” Mr. Scott said, “There’s too many people that have mental illnesses that we’re somehow not addressing, and they have access to weapons, and they shouldn’t.”

WATCH: Senator Rick Scott says he doesn’t want to take guns away. #MTP #IfItsSunday



.@chucktodd: “Do you think we have too many guns in circulation?”@SenRickScott: “I believe in 2nd Amendment. I don’t want to take guns away from law-abiding citizens.” pic.twitter.com/8Q9q619EjM — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) September 1, 2019

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, proposed last month a mandatory buyback for “assault weapons.”

At a Saturday rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, he said the buyback would mean that owners of AK-47 and AR-15 models would “have to sell them to the government,” according to BuzzFeed.

A reporter asked Beto in Charlottesville how he’d reassure people afraid the gov’t would take their assault weapons away.



“I want to be really clear that that’s exactly what we are going to do,” he said. If you own an AK-47 or AR-15, “you’ll have to sell them to the government.” — Molly Hensley-Clancy (@mollyhc) August 31, 2019

In May, Rep. Eric Swalwell, California Democrat, proposed requiring gun owners to sell to the government their “semiautomatic assault weapons” or face prosecution.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat, told CNN last month that she supported banning assault weapons and large magazines, as well as a “buyback program” for current owners.

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