Beto O’Rourke accused those who are pushing back against his proposal of a mandatory buyback of assault weapons of “almost” promoting violence.
“I just I think that kind of language and rhetoric is not helpful,” the 2020 presidential hopeful told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. “It becomes self-fulfilling; you have people on TV, who are almost giving you permission to be violent and saying ‘you know this is this is going to happen.’”
O’Rourke pointed to comments from Meghan McCain, a co-host of The View, who said earlier this week that the government forcing Americans to sell back their weapons would lead to “a lot of violence.”
[Previous coverage: Meghan McCain and Beto O’Rourke battle over comparing Trump rally to Nazism]
“When someone says ‘if you do this, then this will happen,’” O’Rourke said, “almost as though that’s a natural response or maybe even something that should happen or deserves to happen. When I think the response should be: ‘We’re doing nothing now and we’re seeing people slaughtered in their schools, at work, at a Walmart, in a synagogue, in a church, at a concert. There is violence right now and it is horrifying and it is terrifying and it is terrorizing.’ … We should be worried about that kind of violence right now.”
O’Rourke has pledged to enact a mandatory buyback if elected president, saying Saturday that “Americans who own AR-15s, AK-47s, will have to sell them to the government.”
He has made gun control a centerpiece of his campaign since last month’s mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart.
