By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Democrat Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke told CNN about his gun control ideas during an appearance on “State of the Union.” (Screen capture, YouTube, CNN)
Democrat “Beto” O’Rourke has made it official.
If he is elected president, his administration will engage in a program of compensated confiscation of privately-owned modern sporting rifles (MSR), which have been labeled “assault rifles” by the gun prohibition lobby.
In the process, O’Rourke has put the lie to the oft-used Democrat contention that “nobody is going to take your guns” by telling reporters this is exactly what will happen if he becomes the next president.
Speaking to reporters in the aftermath of two mass shooting tragedies in Texas during August, the former congressman declared, “I want to be really clear that that’s exactly what we are going to do. Americans who own AR-15s, AK-47s, will have to sell them to the government.”
People who resist surrendering their legally-owned firearms to an O’Rourke administration would wind up on the wrong side of the law.
O’Rourke is not the only Democrat candidate who has made such a threat against the millions of law-abiding citizens who currently own and legally use modern semi-auto sporting arms. By some estimates, there are more than 15 million such rifles in private hands today, and more people are buying them. The MSR platform is the most popular rifle in America today, now offered in various calibers that make it the choice of many hunters for small and big game. The contention that “nobody uses an AR-15 for hunting” has been proven repeatedly to be a myth by increasing numbers of hunters, including those who post photos on social media.
Across the country, hunters are using MSR rifles for hunting deer, wild hogs, predators and varmints, in a variety of modern calibers developed expressly for use in semi-auto rifles.
O’Rourke’s remarks came in reaction to the shooting in Odessa that claimed seven lives. The man believed responsible was killed in a shootout with police, and published reports say he failed a background check five years ago, but was able to obtain a semi-auto rifle via a private sale, with no background check.
Other recent mass shooters obtained their firearms via retail sales, passing background checks in the process. But what they subsequently did with those guns violated several laws, including the commission of multiple homicides. The Garlic Festival killer in Gilroy, Calif., bought his gun legally in Nevada, where he was living at the time, but brought it across the border into California, where such firearms have been banned.
Indeed, the Odessa gunman appears to be something of an anomaly. Nearly all other killers involved in mass shootings in recent memory obtained their firearms at retail. The handful who didn’t include the Sandy Hook murderer, who killed his own mother and took her guns, and the student who opened fire at Thurston High School in Springfield, Ore., two decades ago, who murdered both of his parents, taking his father’s guns.
Even the Sutherland Springs, Texas church shooter bought his guns at retail, passing a background check because the military apparently did not forward notification of his military conviction to the National Instant Check System.
