Brooks: There’s a Difference Between ‘Defensive Gun Use’ and ‘Offensive Use’ Many Weapons Are For

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks argued that there should be a distinction between “defensive gun use,” like people using firearms for self-defense and the “offensive use” of firearms for murder and that “a lot of the weapons, a lot of the ammunition” are intended for this kind of offensive use.

Brooks said, “[W]e should distinguish between defensive gun use, which is people defending their family, they feel threatened by crime, and offensive use. And a lot of the weapons, a lot of the ammunition [are] for offensive use. And there’s no place for offensive gun use in our society. That is just — we call that murder. And so, I think reframing it in a way that would honor the gun owners in America is a potential way to shift the debate, so we’re not stuck in this Groundhog Day that we’ve been in.”

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