Julián Castro on Mandatory Gun Buybacks: I’m Not Giving Cops ‘Another Reason to Go Door-to-Door’

During Tuesday’s CNN-New York Times Democratic debate, 2020 presidential candidate former HUD Secretary and former San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro (D) criticized mandatory gun buybacks by stating, “I am not going to give these police officers another reason to go door-to-door in certain communities.”

Castro said, “There are two problems I have with mandatory buybacks: Number one, folks can’t define it. And if you’re not going door-to-door, then it’s not really mandatory. But also, in the places that I grew up in, we weren’t exactly looking for another reason for cops to come banging on the door. And you all saw a couple of days ago what happened to Atatiana Jefferson in Fort Worth. A cop showed up at 2 in the morning at her house, when she was playing video games with her nephew. He didn’t even announce himself. And within four seconds, he shot her and killed her through her home window. She was in her own home. And so, I am not going to give these police officers another reason to go door-to-door in certain communities. Because police violence is also gun violence and we need to address that.”

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