Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke defended his plan to confiscate AR-15s and AK-47s and said it would not run counter to the Second Amendment to the Constitution.
“This is something that we’re able to do through the Commerce Clause and this is something that is not prevented from — wouldn’t prevent the United States from doing by the Second Amendment. So this is constitutionally sound,” O’Rourke told NBC’s Meet the Press. “This is absolutely necessary if we care about the lives of our fellow Americans.”
O’Rourke claimed he has had owners of AR-15s come up to him and say, “I own one of these guns, don’t need it to hunt, don’t need it for self-defense. This is the right thing to do, I would gladly give it up.'”
“So not only is this constitutionally sound, I think there’s support beyond the Democratic Party to include Republicans, independents, gun owners, and non-gun owners alike to do the right thing,” he added.
During the fourth Democratic debate Thursday, O’Rourke said, “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.”
His comments met with roaring applause from the audience. Regarding whether his confiscation proposal would be voluntary, O’Rourke told MSNBC it would be mandatory.
O’Rourke has also called for banks and credit card companies to refuse facilitating purchases of “assault weapons,” and to stop doing business with companies who make them.
