A Florida sheriff pushed back against a reporter who suggested guns may have been to blame for recent murders.

The exchange came Friday as Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods took questions from the press regarding the recent shooting deaths of three teenagers.

“Sheriff, you mentioned the gun. Do we know how the suspect got a hold of the weapon?” a reporter asked.

“Car burglaries,” Sheriff Woods responded, adding, “All the gun laws we have in place didn’t prevent it. Neither will any new ones.”

“Because here’s the fact,” he continued. “The bad guy is going to get the gun no matter what laws you have in place.”

“There are individuals out there viewing… who want to blame the one thing that has no ability or the capacity to commit the crime itself, and that’s the gun,” the sheriff said. “These individuals committed the crime.”

The epic shut down of firearm demonization efforts came as the sheriff’s office announced the arrest of two black male suspects ages 12 and 17.

“We have nothing to say that it was any rivalry or anything to such that cause. However, each and every one of them was associated in some shape or form… was associated in some way with a gang,” the sheriff explained. “There is no honor among thieves, and at some point, these individuals turned on our three victims and murdered them.”

ClickOrlando.com has more details on the circumstances behind the three murdered teenagers:

Investigators located the three victims throughout the Ocklawaha area within days of each other, finding the first lying injured on the side of the road March 30 — identified as Layla Silvernail, 16, who later died at a hospital — a male juvenile found dead of an apparent gunshot wound on March 31, lying on the side of a road not far by, and a female juvenile found April 1 who had also been shot and was located in the trunk of a sedan partially submerged in a pond.

Investigators said the vehicle, a Chevrolet Cruze that belonged to Silvernail, carried six individuals at the time of the shooting: the three victims and three suspects.

The sheriff encouraged society and schools to stop minimizing juveniles’ bad acts and begin holding them accountable for their actions.

“There are individuals out there viewing, and to include some of you media, who want to blame the one thing that has no ability or the capacity to commit the crime itself, and that’s the gun. These individuals committed the crime. So what’s the solution? I wish I could give you that answer because this world would be a whole lot better. But the fact is, society fails it. We do not hold our juveniles accountable. We minimize their actions,” he said. “…School districts across the state and across this nation need to quit minimizing the actions of their students. Hold them accountable. That’s where the failure is.”

Police are still searching for a third suspect, Tahj Brewton, 16.

“I’m talking to the viewers,” Woods said. “You- some of you know him (Brewton), you know where he is and you need to turn him in. Now, I will get him, I will find him and justice will be completed.”

Watch the full press conference below: