Sen. Cory Booker endorsed the proposal set by former Rep. Beto O’Rourke for mandatory confiscation of AR-15s and similar rifles, but said “demagogues” are using fear in describing how it would be carried out.
“What’s your view on mandatory gun buybacks or confiscation? And is there a difference?” CNN anchor John Berman asked Booker after Thursday night’s Democratic debate.
“Well, look. I hate when Democrats use the language that Republicans try to use to scare people away as opposed to the sort of pragmatism and practicality of this,” the New Jersey Democrat said on Friday. “We’ve seen around this world, countries that have said enough of these assault rifles. They dealt with the problem that got them off of their streets. These weapons should not be in this country.”
When Berman asked how the idea would be put into motion, Booker said he would use the same method applied after machine guns were banned following the passage of the 1986 National Firearms Act.
“You have to set up a system. Yeah, that is mandatory. You have to set up a system to pull them off. But this idea, this imagery that the fear mongers and demagogues try to say of somehow armed police officers showing up and confiscating weapons, that’s the fear mongering,” Booker said.
[Related: Beto O’Rourke on his gun confiscation plan: ‘No, it’s not voluntary’]
During the debate, O’Rourke made it clear that if he becomes president, AR-15s and AK-47s will be taken away from gun owners.
“If the high-impact, high-velocity round when it hits your body shreds everything inside of your body because it was designed to do that … Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47, we’re not going to allow it to be used on fellow Americans anymore,” he said to a thunderous applause.
