Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) each urged Congress not to get carried away with gun control legislation in the aftermath of Wednesday’s deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. The lawmakers said Congress should only pass bills that would address directly the specific issues in mass shooting cases.

During a speech Thursday on the Senate floor, Rubio noted that “people from across the political spectrum” are arguing about what can be done to address shootings like the one at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, in which 17 people were killed. Politicians say, “There’s got to be something we can do. You have to be able to do something,” Rubio said.

“And I agree with that sentiment. I understand it. And I would add, though, that if we do something, it should be something that works,” he said. “And the struggle up to this point has been that most of the proposals that have been offered would not have prevented not just yesterday’s tragedy, or any of those in recent history.”

Rubio emphasized, however, that just because many of the proposals that have come up before “would not have prevented” these mass shootings — that doesn’t mean “we therefore just raise our hands and say, ‘Therefore there’s nothing that we can do.'”

Instead, lawmakers should look at what these mass shootings “have in common” when looking into how to prevent future ones, Rubio said. He noted that “every single one of them was premeditated and planned.”

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Gowdy apologized Thursday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” to “this generation of children” for the mass shootings they’ve witnessed.

“You have witnessed school shootings, mall shootings, concert shootings. There is no place that seems safe in our society,” Gowdy said bluntly. “So as devastating as the loss of life is, the loss of innocence for this generation of children — I don’t know anyone who would not pass a bill today that would prevent the next mass shooting.”

Although politicians from both sides of the political aisle frequently demonize each other and pin the blame for mass shootings on the opposite side, Gowdy said there is a better way to move forward as a nation while addressing the issues.

“You’ve got to find out how [gunman Nikolas Cruz] accessed the gun. You’ve got to find out whether or not there was a data point at some point in his background where someone could have reported it — whether or not he accessed the gun legally or illegally,” Gowdy said.

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But at this point in time, after the latest mass shooting, Gowdy noted that “we hear about the gun show loophole” when lawmakers pin some of the blame for the shootings on that loophole.

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“Fine, close that gun show loophole. But how many mass killings have resulted from guns purchased at gun shows?” Gowdy said. “So my criticism of the Obama administration was, we had an eight-year decline in gun prosecutions. My objective is to prosecute the person before he takes a life. Enforce the laws for which the Obama administration said there is no jury appeal. I get it. I used to prosecute them. There is no jury appeal in prosecuting a prohibited person. There is jury appeal in a murder case. But — but our goal should be to avoid the murder.”

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“So if you can show me a law that will prevent the next mass killing, go ahead and sign me up for it,” the congressman from South Carolina added.

PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.