On Wednesday, Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat representing West Virginia, blasted presidential contender Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke over his radical anti-gun rhetoric.
O’Rourke promised Americans during the last Democratic presidential primary debate that “hell yes,” he’s going to take law-abiding citizens’ guns, such as AR-15s and AK-47s.
“Beto’s one human being. He gave his own opinion, OK?” Sen. Manchin told Wall Street Journal reporter Lindsay Wise. “I think it was very harmful to make it look like all the Democrats.”
“I can tell you one thing: [Beto O’Rourke’s] not taking my guns away from me,” Manchin added. “You tell Beto that OK?”
Following the blistering message to the fellow Democrat, Manchin’s office made it clear to NBC News that the senator does not own any AR-15s, according to The Hill.
“FYI, per his office, Sen Manchin does NOT own an AR-type weapon, so Beto’s buyback program wouldn’t affect him,” posted NBC reporter Frank Thorp V.
“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” O’Rourke proudly bellowed during Thursday’s debate. The failed Senate candidate has used extreme language to bring in campaign dollars. He’s also claimed law-abiding citizens with AR-15s and AK-47s are eager to hand over their guns to the government for a so-called “buy back” program.
O’Rourke recently told MSNBC’s Joy Reid, “Texans who own AR-15s, they’ve told me, ‘I don’t need this. I don’t need it to hunt, I don’t need it to protect myself … if giving this back, or cutting it to pieces, or selling it to the gov helps to keep us safer, then by all means do it,'” reported The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra.
According to the Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek, O’Rourke also claimed a “longtime Republican” told him he’s all in for gun confiscation while they were standing next to one another in the bathroom, apparently urinating.
“New O’Rourke anecdote: He says a longtime Republican chatted him up today in [Buc-ee’s Beaver] bathroom on guns,” posted Svitek. “He said, ‘This is gonna be strange — not strange that I’m talking to you while we’re both at a urinal … but strange because I’m telling you you’re absolutely right on guns.’”
There has, however, been push-back by actual gun owners, as we’ve seen with Manchin, who’s notably a Democrat, though very moderate.
The Daily Wire’s Josh Hammer wrote a piece explaining why the American people do need their AR-15s, and bluntly stated that he would not oblige with such government confiscation, writing in part:
No. I will not oblige. My staggeringly awesome so-called “assault weapon,” replete as it is with multiple sights, numerous “high-capacity” magazines, and hundreds and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, is the ultimate guardian of my life and liberty. It is, in Kozinski’s “doomsday” scenario, the final fail-safe mechanism that, if all else were to fail in America and tyranny or anarchy were to reign, still gives me a chance to defend home, hearth, family, and self. It is the weapon that the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, much like oppressed people living under totalitarian regimes the whole world over, wished they could have had. Such weapons are — here, there, and everywhere — the ultimate guardians of a citizenry’s freedom.
Related: WATCH: Beto Finally Reveals How He Will Enforce His Gun Confiscation Program