A feud has erupted between presidential candidates Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg over the issue of gun control. In response to Buttigieg’s criticism of his extreme gun control plan of mandatory buybacks for AR-15s and AK-47s, Beto resorted to what has become the trademark of his floundering campaign: expletives.
Last Thursday, O’Rourke scored big points far-left progressives when he said that government would “take” people’s guns, which many Democrats felt went too far, believing that it would turn gun owners against the Democratic Party.
“We’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47, and we’re not going to allow it to be used against your fellow Americans anymore,” he said.
As reported by Fox News, when appearing on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” on Sunday, O’Rourke doubled-down on his call to ban “weapons of war,” citing the horrible wounds that people suffered during the shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
“Talking to those doctors and trauma room surgeons who treated those victims in El Paso, they said these are wounds of war—that high-impact, high-velocity round, when it hit their systems, just shredded everything inside of them,” O’Rourke said. “I refuse to accept that, and I refuse to even acknowledge the politics, or the polling, or the fear of the NRA that has purchased the complicity and silence of members of Congress and this weak response to a real tragedy in America.”
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), however, told CNN “Newsroom” that O’Rourke’s rhetoric was making the situation worse for gun control advocates.
“I don’t think having our presidential candidates, like Congressman O’Rourke did, say that we’re going to try and take people’s guns against their will is a wise either policy or political move,” Coons said, as noted by Newsmax. “I respect what is motivating Congressman O’Rourke, but I don’t think as a policy position that’s going to stand muster.”
Fellow presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg agreed that O’Rourke’s statement will only bolster the Second Amendment advocates.
“Look, right now we have an amazing moment on our hands,” said the Indiana mayor. “We have agreement among the American people not just for universal backgrounds checks, but we have a majority in favor of red-flag laws, high-capacity magazines, banning the new sale of assault weapons. This is a golden moment to finally do something.”
“When even this president and even [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell are at least are pretending to be open to reforms, we know that we have a moment on our hand. Let’s make the most of it and get these things done,” he concluded.
O’Rourke responded by firing off a tweet in which he said that critics of his position are capitulating to “calculation and fear.” He tweeted, “Leaving millions of weapons of war on the streets because Trump and McConnell are ‘at least pretending to be open to reforms’? That calculation and fear is what got us here in the first place. Let’s have the courage to say what we believe and fight for it,” he tweeted.
“When candidates say, ‘At least Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell are pretending to be interested,’ sh–, that is not enough. Neither is poll-testing your message. Gun violence is a life or death issue—and we have to represent the bold ideas of people all over the country,” he later added.
Related: Beto Claims Texas Gun Owners Want Gun Confiscation. Actual Texas Gun Owner Levels Him In One Tweet.