PolitiFact Nails Beto O’Rourke for Double Talk on Gun Confiscation

Politifact nailed Democrat presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke for his double talk on gun confiscation.

They did this by showing that O’Rourke’s claims that he is not pushing confiscation are false.

Politifact observed O’Rourke was asked about his plans to confiscate guns during an October 16, 2019, MSNBC appearance.

O’Rourke responded to the question, saying:

To be clear, I’m not talking about confiscating anybody’s guns. But I do think that, for those weapons of war  — AR-15s, AK-47s — these were designed and sold to the militaries of the world to kill people on a battlefield and there are more than 16 million of them in America. And we’ve seen the devastating effect that they can have in Dayton, Ohio, or El Paso, Texas, or Odessa, not too far from where I live. Those must be bought back or else each of them are an instrument potentially of terror in this country.

But Politfact then noted O’Rourke was asked about AR-15s and AK-47s during the September 12, 2019, Democrat debate. His response  was clear, “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.”

Moreover, during a September 18, 2019, appearance on CNN, O’Rourke appeared to his support for confiscation once more.

CNN’s Chris Cuomo asked, “All right, so let’s state the proposition. Are you, in fact, in favor of gun confiscation?

O’Rourke: “Yes, when it comes to AR-15s and AK-47s, weapons designed for use on a military battlefield. …So, when it comes to those weapons, Chris, the answer is yes.”

Politifact went on to report O’Rourke’s pledge to send law enforcement to visit the non-complaint and “recover” their rifles so the government could buy them. And they spoke to University of Wyoming law expert George Mocsary, who said, “It is unreasonable to call what Mr. O’Rourke is proposing anything other than confiscation.”

Politifact reported, “We rate O’Rourke’s claim that he is ‘not talking about confiscating anybody’s guns’ as False.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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.