The scourge of mass shootings should be blamed on the "decline of moral values in America" and breakdowns in the traditional family, according to Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala.
"What we have to do is stop the motivation that causes these criminals, these horrific individuals to do what they do," Brooks told "Fox News Sunday," noting mass shooting tragedies are "much more common" now than ever.
"What's the big difference between when I was growing up and today? The big difference is the decline in moral values, the decline in the respect for human life," he continued. "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."
Brooks noted his perspective is not without personal experience, having been a survivor of the mass shooting event that targeted conservatives at a congressional baseball practice in June 2017.
"I've been in the middle of one of these things, and I was the primary target of the assassin where he had my name, my physical description in his pocket at the time he launched this attack," Brooks noted.
Americans pushing for gun control are losing sight of the purpose behind the Second Amendment in the Constitution, according to Brooks.
"The Second Amendment is designed to help ensure that we, the citizenry, always have the right to take back our government should it become dictatorial," Brooks said.
"And as long as we enjoy uninfringed Second Amendment rights, 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."
Brooks will only "consider" new laws after the recent mass shootings that do not compromise the rights of law-abiding citizens who do not commit murder and heinous acts of violence.
Brooks is running for Senate in Alabama, having advanced to a June 21 runoff against Katie Britt, who earned 44.7% support in this past Tuesday's primary to Brooks' 29.2%. Mike Durant pulled 23.3% support and has now endorsed Brooks, who had his endorsement from former President Donald Trump pulled after he said the GOP must move on from 2020 presidential election fraud talk.
"What is now done in 2020 is irreversible under the United States Constitution and the United States code," Brooks said.
Fox News host Sandra Smith, who has had a checkered past in denouncing Trump's allegations of election fraud on live TV, was excoriated by Brooks for claiming there was "no evidence or proof provided" of fraud.
"That's wrong," Brooks stopped Smith. "I don't know why you people need to keep saying that, but that is absolutely false.
"You keep saying it every time, but that's absolutely false. You have 150 congressmen and senators that absolutely disagree with you on what you just said. So what are you calling them? What are you calling them when you have 150 Republican senators and congressmen looked at the voter fraud issue and said there was a major problem."