Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke signaled he is open to expanding the types of firearms that would be confiscated under his administration.
O’Rourke was asked by Evan Todd, a pro-gun rights Columbine High School shooting survivor, if he was willing to consider “getting rid” of all semi-automatic firearms, as the two shooters in the 1999 massacre did not use AR-15s or AK-47s.
The two shooters used a Tec-DC9 semi-automatic handgun, a Hi-Point 995 Carbine, and two sawed-off shotguns to kill 15 people at their high school. The pair also had multiple bombs that failed to detonate.
“I would love to have your help. If you want to sit down with us and talk about kinds of weapons that are going to be important to be regulated, I’m here with you and want to listen to you,” O’Rourke said.
The former Texas congressman was asked about Todd’s question after the campaign event in Colorado.
“Yeah, I want to listen to him,” O’Rourke said. “If there’s a way to improve what we have proposed, I want to make sure that we are reflecting that.” He said he gave Todd his number so he could talk with him about the issue.
Todd said he was testing O’Rourke on how far the candidate was willing to go on gun confiscation. Todd subsequently tweeted, “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!”
Semi-automatic firearms make up the vast majority of guns in the United States. A ban and confiscation of said weapons would include many types of rifles that are not AR-15s, handguns, and shotguns.
O’Rourke is currently campaigning on confiscating AR-15s and AK-47s, which he called for during the third Democratic presidential debate by saying, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47, we’re not going to allow it to be used on fellow Americans anymore.”
*story by The Washington Examiner