Beto O’Rourke Goes to Arkansas Gun Show, Denounces AR-15 Sales

Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke went to an Arkansas gun show over the weekend, took photos standing by AR-15 sale placards, and then denounced the availability of the firearms.

O’Rourke tweeted he was going to the gun show “to meet Americans where they are—and bring them into [his] campaign.”

In Arkansas, I listened to gun owners and sellers—and appreciated hearing their perspectives. But as the plan we released yesterday says, if I’m president, you wouldn’t be able to buy weapons of war for $395. You wouldn’t be able to buy them at all. pic.twitter.com/Pz8KuFq9Tt

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) August 17, 2019

Inside the gun show he took a photo standing by a table that was selling AR-15s for $395, then tweeted: “In Arkansas, I listened to gun owners and sellers—and appreciated hearing their perspectives. But as the plan we released yesterday says, if I’m president, you wouldn’t be able to buy weapons of war for $395. You wouldn’t be able to buy them at all.”

On August 11, 2019, Breitbart News reported FBI crime stats showing more people are killed with hammers and clubs than by rifles of any kind.  The FBI figures were from 2017–the most recent year–and they showed 467 people were killed with “blunt objects (hammers, clubs, etc.),” while 403 were killed with rifles.

The same FBI figures showed 1,591 people were killed with “knives or cutting instruments” while 403 were killed with “rifles.” This means nearly four times as many people were stabbed to death as were killed with any kind of rifle. If we were to focus the comparison by looking at the number of deaths in which an “assault rifle” was involved the gap between those stabbed to death and those shot to death would be even greater.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.