"When you're dealing with [gun-related crime] … you focus on the criminal," he said at a June 8 press conference.

"You focus on the lunatic—you don't kneecap the rights of law-abiding citizens."

Mental health issues notwithstanding, some shooters are just "really bad people … who are doing things, targeting kids, targeting innocent people," the governor said.

During the question-and-answer session, DeSantis was asked about the closing in 2002 of a large mental hospital that held people who were deemed a threat to society.

While DeSantis did not call for a return of that type of institution, he seemed to question the decision of then Gov. Jeb Bush to close G. Pierce Wood (GPW), a mental health facility located in Southwest Florida.