CNN morning anchor Alisyn Camerota pressed 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke on how he plans on implementing his gun confiscation proposal.
O’Rourke, who faced similar criticisms from fellow presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg during Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primary debate, was interviewed on CNN the following morning by Camerota.
“How do you plan to get assault weapons away from people who don’t want to give them up?” the host asked on Wednesday.
“As with any law in this country, we would expect our fellow Americans to follow the law,” the former Texas representative echoed his answer from the debate. “We’re a nation of laws, and no person is above the law. No matter how much they may disagree with a given law … This is the right thing to do. And I fully expect my fellow Americans to follow the law.”
He also brought up Australia’s ban of automatic and semiautomatic rifles and shotguns, which went into effect after a mass shooting in Port Arthur, Tasmania, that left 35 people dead in 1996.
“You expect mass shooters to follow the law?” Camerota pushed back. “Congressman, mass shooters … they don’t follow the law, by definition.”
O’Rourke responded by reiterating his claim that people “will follow the law,” but Camerota did not relent.
The former congressman continued, “There are so many instances where the proposals that we’ve made, whether it is a universal background check or a red flag law or ending the sale of weapons of war or buying those that are out there back, would have stopped many of the shootings we’ve seen in a country that loses 40,000 people a year to gun violence. Would it stop every single shooting? No, but that should be no excuse for not taking action now while we have the opportunity to do the right thing.”
In another interview Wednesday morning, O’Rourke admitted that law enforcement officials would likely “visit” AR-15 owners who refuse to turn their guns in under his plan.
