A day before the October Democratic presidential debate, Cory Booker and Beto O’Rourke are taking swipes at Pete Buttigieg for criticizing their gun policy positions and using the term “gun confiscation.”
“I just don’t think we should wait, to have a fight, over confiscation, when we can win on background checks and assault weapons bans and red flag laws right now,” Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said in a Good Luck America interview on Snapchat released Monday when asked about “mandatory buybacks” for military-style assault weapons.
Booker, a New Jersey senator who supports the policy, policed Buttigieg’s terminology.
“Calling buyback programs ‘confiscation’ is doing the NRA’s work for them, @PeteButtigieg — and they don’t need our help,” Booker said in a tweet on Monday.
Calling buyback programs “confiscation” is doing the NRA’s work for them, @PeteButtigieg—and they don’t need our help. https://t.co/eshiBU7PIg
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) October 14, 2019
Buttigieg used the term in the interview when asked about some harsh words from O’Rourke earlier this month about their policy disagreement.
“Those who are worried about the polls and want to triangulate or talk to consultants and listen to the focus groups — and I’m thinking about Mayor Pete on this one, who I think probably wants to get to the right place, but is afraid of doing the right thing, right now,” O’Rourke, a former Texas representative, said at a March For Our Lives gun violence forum.
O’Rourke previously opposed confiscation of military-style weapons, which Booker pointed out during the last presidential debate, but came out in support of the policy after an August mass shooting in his home town of El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 people.
“I get it, he needs to pick a fight in order to stay relevant,” Buttigieg said of O’Rourke’s attacks. “But this is about a difference of opinion on policy. And my focus right now is getting something done, making sure we have universal background checks, delivering red flag laws that are going to disarm domestic abusers, putting an end to the new sale of assault weapons. We have a shot at doing that right now, and we can’t wait.”
O’Rourke renewed his swipe at Buttigieg on Monday following the interview.
“Pete can belittle the grassroots; he can call buybacks a ‘shiny object.’ He can say whatever he wants, but guns kill 40,000 people each year. Those people deserve action. I’ll be fighting for them,” O’Rourke said in a tweet.
Pete can belittle the grassroots; he can call buybacks a “shiny object.” He can say whatever he wants, but guns kill 40,000 people each year.
Those people deserve action. I’ll be fighting for them. https://t.co/yZwbyfSngr
— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) October 14, 2019
