Former congressman Beto O’Rourke’s vow to take AR-15s from gun owners appears to represent a stark reversal from his failed Senate run last year.
At Thursday night’s Democratic presidential debate, O’Rourke was pressed by ABC’s “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir about whether he was proposing “taking away” guns from lawful gun owners. He said he was, specifically weapons “designed to kill people on a battlefield.”
“When we see that being used against children and in Odessa, I met the mother of a 15-year-old girl who was shot by an AR-15. And that mother watched her bleed to death over the course of an hour because so many other people were shot by that AR-15 in Odessa and Midland. There weren’t enough ambulances to get to them in time,” he said. O’Rourke’s hometown of El Paso also was the scene of a recent mass shooting.
He then vowed, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore!”
His campaign has even produced a shirt with the slogan.
Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15.
Buy your shirt now: https://t.co/kEJxoLvfH5 pic.twitter.com/KKpAKX4IL8
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) September 13, 2019
Pentagon races to buy 10X more missiles as Iran war dwindles arsenal, threatens readiness for China aggression
GOP senators rally behind 9/11 families in push to ban Mamdani from anniversary ceremony: ‘He’s a disgrace’
Deported child predator who illegally reentered US sentenced to 20 years in federal prison
Florida woman accused of faking cancer to scam hundreds out of $40K, police say
Trump used catering truck, Air Force One decoy to evade Iran threat: report
Family Recounts Chilling Meetings with Doctors, Nurses Before Beloved Grandmother Was Euthanized, Allegedly Against Her Will and Theirs
Dem Gov Maura Healey signs sweeping Massachusetts bill allowing abortions up to birth
Mamdani’s luxury-home tax rollout derailed for now as judge delivers win to NYC homeowners over massive list
Geraldo Proves Trump Right, Calls Haiti ‘Hell’ While Whining About Haitians Being Deported Home
Video: Caitlin Clark’s Suspension Reversed After Ref’s Bizarre Technical Overturned – This as Allegations of Open Racism Flare in WNBA
Fauci Admitted 2nd Dose of COVID Vaccine ‘Theoretically Could Be Associated with Miscarriage’ in Newly Released Texts
Rand Paul Finally Gets Inside Fort Knox Vault and Reveals His Findings
Unlicensed NYC boat operator allegedly ignored safety warnings before mother, baby died in capsizing: feds
Top Senate Dem’s new tax idea gets torched as critics warn nearly every American could pay
Major City Routing 911 Calls to AI to Decide Who Gets a Human and Who Doesn’t
However, O’Rourke had a much different stance when he was running for Senate. During an interview on “The Chad Hasty Show” in April 2018, the host asked: “I own an AR-15. A lot of our listeners out there own AR-15s. Why should they not have one?”
“To be clear, they should have them,” O’Rourke responded. “If you purchased that AR-15, if you own it, keep it. Continue to use it responsibly.”
He added later in the same interview: “If you own a gun, keep that gun. Nobody wants to take it away from you — at least I don’t want to do that.”
Since O’Rourke’s run for Senate, there have been several mass shootings in the U.S., including in El Paso, which he has said has changed his view on gun control.
Source: Fox News
