HOUSTON, TEXAS — Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) told Breitbart News on Thursday after the third Democrat debate people would “follow the law” if he implemented a mandatory federal gun buyback program as president.
O’Rourke, who hails from El Paso, Texas, where the El Paso shooting occurred earlier this summer, said he would confiscate weapons “designed to kill people on a battlefield.”
“If the high impact, high velocity round shreds everything inside of your body. … When we see that being used against children,” he continued. “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.”
He also tweeted his response out, along with a link where people could donate to help “buy back every single assault weapon”:
Breitbart News’ AWR Hawkins reported the AR-15 is not a military weapon, but a “civilian, semiautomatic rifle that shoots one round each time the trigger is pulled.”
Hawkins wrote: “The military weapon, an M4, shoots semiautomatic or fully automatic and is designed to handle the heat and stress of being shot on a battlefield. An AR-15 is not.”
Others have been less optimistic that people would follow the law on a gun confiscation. ABC’s “The View” host Megan McCain warned there would be violence if the government tried to take away guns.
“The AR-15 is by far the most popular gun in America. … I was just in the middle of nowhere Wyoming, [and] if you’re talking about going and taking people’s guns away from them, there’s going to be a lot of violence,” she said.
O’Rourke has evolved on this issue. Previously he believed people should be able to keep their guns.
In April 2018 on “The Chad Hasty Show” in April 2018, O’Rourke said, “If you purchased that AR-15, if you own it, keep it. Continue to use it responsibly.”
“I think Texas has a real opportunity to lead on this issue right now because we so jealously guard that Second Amendment. We believe in it. We’ll defend it,” he said, according to the Federalist.
“We have this proud, rich tradition of hunting, of owning guns for self-defense, for sport, for collection,” he had said. “We support the Second Amendment. 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.”