Beto O’Rourke doubles down on vow to ‘take your AR-15, your AK-47’

Former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke reiterated his vow to “take your AR-15, your AK-47” if he’s successful in his bid to become governor of Texas. 

During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” O’Rourke was asked by host Dana Bash if he stands by the pledge he made during a Democratic presidential debate in September 2019.

​“I still hold this view,” he said in the Sunday interview. 

“Look, we are a state that has a long, proud tradition of responsible gun ownership. And most of us here in Texas do not want to see our friends, our family members, our neighbors shot up with these weapons of war. So yes, I still hold this view,” O’Rourke said.​

During his failed run for the Democratic presidential nomination, O’Rourke blamed Congress for not passing stricter gun-control measures and said he supported mandatory buybacks of assault-style rifles that have been used in mass shootings. 

“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” ​he said at the Democratic debate in Houston, Texas. “We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.”​

O’Rourke said Texans have expressed concern to him about Gov. Gregg Abbott’s signing a bill in July that would allow people to carry handguns without a license. 

“We don’t want extremism in our gun laws. We want to protect the Second Amendment, we want to protect the lives of our fellow Texans. And I know that when we come together and stop this divisive extremism that we see from Greg Abbott right now, we’re going to be able to do that,” he said.