Beto O’Rourke Fires Back After Mayor Pete Says His AR-15 Remarks Play Into Republicans’ Hands

Amid growing Democratic criticism of his repeated call to ban assault-style weapons and impose mandatory buybacks of AR-15s and AK-47s, Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke defended his position while also firing back at his moderate Dem critics, specifically South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

“Leaving millions of weapons of war on the streets because Trump and McConnell are ‘at least pretending to be open to reforms’?” O’Rourke tweeted on Sunday. “That calculation and fear is what got us here in the first place. Let’s have the courage to say what we believe and fight for it.”

Leaving millions of weapons of war on the streets because Trump and McConnell are “at least pretending to be open to reforms”?

That calculation and fear is what got us here in the first place. Let’s have the courage to say what we believe and fight for it. https://t.co/SSnFT600Vm

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) September 15, 2019