Salem, N.H. — Beto O’Rourke thinks a plan by Democratic presidential rival Cory Booker to create federal licenses for guns “may be too far.”
The former Texas congressman told reporters at a Salem event Thursday that while he agrees with Booker, a New Jersey senator, on background checks and closing purchasing loopholes, new firearm laws should “complement” responsible gun owners.
“I come from, just like New Hampshire, a very proud gun-owning state. People who use firearms responsibly for hunting, for self-protection, for collection. And I think relying on the responsibility and accountability that gun owners feel — matching that with universal background checks, stopping the sales of weapons of war, red flag laws — that’s the perfect way to complement the responsible gun ownership we see in the country right now.”
“I don’t know that we need to take the additional step of licensing every single firearm to every single owner. I think that may be too far,” O’Rourke said.
Booker released a plan this week to address gun violence that includes the creation of a federal gun licensing system, which his campaign dubbed the “most sweeping gun violence prevention proposal ever advanced by a presidential candidate.”
O’Rourke spoke to a group of about 100 people at the home of James Smith, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President Barack Obama.
O’Rourke opened his remarks by talking about the importance of addressing gun violence, telling a story of his first grade son Henry “huddling into a closet” one day at school last year as part of an active shooter lockdown training.
“For Henry, it was not shocking or out of the ordinary. It’s just, ‘I’m in first grade and what you do is you get ready for a gunman to come into the classroom,'” O’Rourke said, worrying that Americans have “internalized that we are a violent people” when it comes to gun violence.
“Maybe this is not something that we have to accept. This is not an act of God or a force of nature. This is caused by our fellow humans, and there is a human solution to it,” O’Rourke said.
