Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said during a town hall in Aurora, Colorado, that he is open to stepping up his proposal to confiscate AR-15s and AK-47s to include all semi-automatic weapons.
The presidential hopeful was taking questions from a crowd of about 200 people. A man who identified himself as a survivor of the Columbine massacre in 1999 pointed out that the weapons used in that shooting were not the military-style ones that O’Rourke said he would ban. The shooters of that massacre used semi-automatic weapons, and the survivor, Evan Todd, challenged O’Rourke to confiscate them as well, reported KDVR.
Todd can be heard saying in a video to O’Rourke, “none of my classmates were murdered with those weapons, 50 percent of mass murders don’t happen with those weapons, don’t you think it’s time to get rid of all semi-auto firearms?” he said as people cheered.
O’Rourke answered that he would consider whether it would make sense to confiscate other weapons aside from the military-style rifles.
“This is the criteria that makes sense to me: if that weapon was designed to kill people and does so effectively, efficiently, in a great number, then we should no longer be selling it to one another.”
“If there’s a way to improve what we proposed, I want to make sure we’re reflecting that,” O’Rourke told reporters.
It is unclear if O’Rourke answered the question as Todd intended. KDVR reported that they have confirmed that Todd is a gun-rights activist.
I wanted a clear answer from Beto of where he draws the line, but never got one. To answer my own question on if we should ban guns, the answer is: HELL NO! As far as my stance on guns? The Second Amendment supports me. https://t.co/2W0fPzn0aD
— Evan (@evanmtodd) September 20, 2019
O’Rourke later gave Todd his phone number and said they could talk about it more.
O’Rourke said that it was time to implement a “mandatory buyback of AK-47 and AR-15 weapons,” adding that those weapons are “designed, engineered and sold to militaries all over the world because (they) efficiently and effectively kill people.”
Some present in the crowd were carrying their weapons openly.
“I know that it is not convenient or easy to hear that we want to,” said O’Rourke. “The people in this country are well ahead of the people who purport to represent them, Republicans and Democrats alike.”
He noted that there are an estimated 15 million AR-15 and AK47 model weapons in the country. “We will buy back each and every single one,” he said, as the crowd cheered at his words. “This is wrong, and we do not have to accept it.”
In another notable moment, referring to Beto’s controversial statement “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15.” One woman said, “I’m here to say hell no, you’re not.”
She said, among a screaming crowd, “I would like to know how you intend to legislate evil, because it’s not the gun it is the heart of the man that does that.”
She continued saying that an American’s right to defend themselves shall not be infringed upon.
The second amendment, which states: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” was originally ratified in 1791 after Americans had just used guns to ward off British imperial domination.
It was created with the intention to protect freedom. It is crucial in ensuring a free state and gives citizens the opportunity to defend themselves against a potentially tyrannical government.
