FLASHBACK–Beto O’Rourke: AR-15 Sales Should Be Banned

During a February interview with CBS News Senatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke (D) suggested AR-15 sales should be banned in America.

O’Rourke said, “I think banning bump stocks makes a lot of sense. … I don’t know that we should raise the age for buying an AR-15 I just don’t think we should be selling AR-15s in this country.”

He continued by confusing the AR-15 with the M-16, saying, “That weapon was designed for one purpose and one purpose only, to kill people as effectively and as efficiently as possible on the battlefield.”

Contrary to O’Rourke’s description, the M-16 is our battlefield weapon. It is fully automatic, which means it can shoot as many rounds as are in the magazine with only one pull of the trigger. On the other hand, the AR-15 is a civilian firearm that is semiautomatic, which means it only shoots one round per each pull of the trigger, period.

On April 9, O’Rourke was interviewed in Lubbock, Texas, by KFYO. During that interview he pushed for a “conversation” to “allow the CDC to study gun violence, around having comprehensive—without exception—universal background checks, and around weapons of war, like an AR-15.”

He added, “I’ve come to the conclusion that we should not be selling these weapons of war in this country, and not expect them to turn up in our schools, in our concerts, and in our churches.” He made clear that he is an “original co-sponsor of the assault weapons ban” legislation for 2018.

O’Rourke is running against pro-Second Amendment Sen. Ted Cruz (R) in Texas.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.