Former presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke ripped photos widely circulated on Twitter that showed men carrying semi-automatic firearms at the Kentucky State Capitol.
“Wake the f— up America!” said the former Democratic congressman from Texas in a tweet that shared the gun activists’ photos.
O’Rourke, 47, struggled to gain traction in the 2020 Democratic nominee race after centering his campaign behind a policy of disarming people in the United States.
“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” said O’Rourke at the ABC News Democratic debate in September. “We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.”
The men rallied at the Kentucky State Capitol to show their concern for encroaching gun control laws proposed in Virginia, a neighboring state. Tens of thousands protested in the streets of Richmond, Virginia, against gun control earlier this month.
“We see what’s happening in Virginia, and we may say to ourselves, ‘That won’t be us here in Kentucky,’” Kentucky Republican Rep. Savannah Maddox said. “How many years are we away from being like Virginia? It can happen just that easily, if folks just like us are not willing to stand up and do exactly what you are doing here today.”
Wake the fuck up America! https://t.co/rSKUcXBBmv
— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) February 1, 2020
