Beto O’Rourke: AR-15 Owners Should Not Be Able to Keep Them

During a campaign event on May 21, Texas Democrat gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke expressed his belief that Americans who own AR-15s should not be able to keep them.

On May 31, FOX News highlighted the comments as part O’Rourke’s ongoing effort against the guns.

In the comments, O’Rourke stressed his position that no one should be able “to purchase an AR-15 or AK-47,” and added, “I don’t think that the people who have them right now in civilian use should be able to keep them.”

Following the Uvalde attack, in which a legally purchased rifle was used criminally against school children and staff, O’Rourke interrupted a press conference in which Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and other Texas leaders were providing updates on the attack.

Breitbart News noted that O’Rourke approached the stage on which Abbott sat and said, “This was totally preventable.”

He continued, “You’re doing nothing, this is totally predictable.”

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin shouted down O’Rourke, saying, “I can’t believe — you’re a sick son of a bitch who would come to a deal like this to make a political issue.”

#BREAKING: The moment TX Dem. Gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke interrupted the Uvalde shooting press conference. Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin can be hear calling O’Rourke a “sick son of a bitch” as O’Rourke shouts “you’re doing nothing, this is totally predicable”. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/9TigShnT1v

— Alexandria Hernandez (@AlexandriaHrndz) May 25, 2022

During a Democrat debate on September 12, 2019, O’Rourke said, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15.”

On November 17, 2020, Breitbart News reported National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) numbers showing that Americans own nearly 20 million AR-15s and similar firearms that Democrats label “assault weapons.”

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 and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.