by Chuck Ross
The Democratic presidential candidate unveiled his five-point plan a day after he announced a reset of his campaign. O’Rourke, who is polling in the low single digits, suspended his campaign after a mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso on Aug. 3. Patrick Crusius, 21, killed 22 people in what is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism and a potential hate crime.
Crusius allegedly posted an anti-Hispanic screed online shortly before the shooting.
While most Democratic presidential contenders support expanding gun control measures, only New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has gone as far as O’Rourke in calling for mandatory buybacks and a national licensing system.
O’Rourke also proposes a ban on “assault weapons, trigger cranks, silencers, bump stocks, and high-capacity magazines.”
He also reiterated support for universal background checks and enacting so-called “red flag” laws that will be voted on in the House.
“Today, we are releasing our plan to prevent atrocities like these from happening again—a plan which would not only reduce gun violence, but also combat the spread of hate and white nationalism taking place through online radicalization,” O’Rourke wrote on Instagram.
O’Rourke said in an interview days after the El Paso shooting that he was “open” to a gun licensing system, as well as mandatory buy backs like one implemented in Australia in 1996.
The Australian government commandeered 700,000 semi-automatic weapons and shotguns as part of the program, which followed an April 28, 1996 mass shooting that left 35 people dead.
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Chuck Ross is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Beto O’Rourke” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0. Background Photo “Guns” by Neon Tommy. CC BY-SA 2.0.
It just amazes me that these people still blame the gun. My rifle has set in my gun safe loaded since last deer season and I promise you it’s not going to jump up and kill anyone. It does not matter hot many rounds the magazine will hold because three 10 round magazines are the same as one 30 round. I can drop and reload in under a second. So come on people get some common sense and stop reacting on emotions and actually think with logic!! It will get you a lot farther with the American people
Beto has 10 million AR15 owners voting for Trump. Another 10 million that own assault rifles other than ARs voting for Trump. Mandatory confiscation without constitutional authority pretty much dooms Beto to being a no show in later primaries. Confiscation will lose him most of the votes from the 100,000,000 households that own guns. 46% of Americans own guns and oppose confiscation.