Democratic senator warns O'Rourke AR-15 pledge could haunt party for years

[left-of-center2012]

Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) on Friday warned that Beto O’Rourke’s pledge that the government will confiscate semiautomatic AR-15 rifles will become a rallying cry for gun rights groups for years to come and haunt the Democratic Party far into the future.

“I frankly think that that clip will be played for years at Second Amendment rallies with organizations that try to scare people by saying that Democrats are coming for your guns. I don’t think having our presidential candidates, like Congressman O’Rourke did, say that we’re going to try to take people’s guns against their will is a wise policy or political move,” Coons said.

O’Rourke, a former member of Congress from Texas, received loud applause at the Democratic debate in Houston on Thursday when he declared: “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against fellow Americans anymore.”

O’Rourke’s statement confirms the fears of many Republicans and gun rights advocates who say the ultimate goal of the gun control movement is government confiscation of firearms.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/461298-democratic-senator-warns-orourke-ar-15-pledge-could-haunt-party-for-years

[liskddksil]

1. Show some spine Dems!

They're going to accuse us of taking their guns no matter what we propose, so we might as well just go ahead and take these guns (at fair market price of course). The American people are on our side, lets act like it!

[RKP5637]

2. Absolutely!!! Democrats IMO spend too much time asking for permission for everything. The

GOP just does it and does not give a fuck. Democrats IMO need to do more of the same.

[liskddksil]

4. Yep. We should stop worrying about the polls and start changing the polls! nt

[RKP5637]

5. Exactly!!! Drive a stake in the ground and quit mushing around about it! n/t

[pandr32]

17. +1000

[aikoaiko]

26. Not on confiscation. There is no data to support forced buybacks.

[liskddksil]

31. Hell yeah there is. 52% Support Nationwide

https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/sept-2-5-2019-washington-post-abc-news-poll/d4e18b36-79bf-492d-91e3-d1c7a49d37e2/

But regardless we shouldn't be following and worrying about polls, we should be changing the polls!

[aikoaiko]

34. Fair enough I - had not seen that poll. I stand corrected.

Still I am opposed to forced buybacks.

[mahina]

3. "Haunt"?

Oh man that is either a very poor choice of words or an intentional poke in our collective gut.

Those opposed should be haunted but I want peace for the victims.

[Big Blue Marble]

6. Whose side is Coons on?

Elected Democrats need to stand up to gun lobby, not dance around it.
Gun violence is one of the biggest threats to our safety and we need to face
it head on, not tinker with gun laws such as background checks which while
important will not stop thousands of people dying for all the guns that are
in civilian hands now.

Gun manufactures, The NRA, and the Republicans have been "terrorizing"
Democrats long enough. We need to stop the violence now.

[vsrazdem]

7. I say take the damn guns, I'm sick of seeing people gunned down with equipment that should

only be used by the military.

[Recursion]

10. So ban that equipment.

Stop wasting time with an AR-15 ban. It's pointless and doesn't address the problem.

[vsrazdem]

12. I disagree, it's a start.

[Recursion]

13. How?

How in God's name is it a start? You require the rifle to be sold with a somewhat differently shaped grip. What on earth does that accomplish?

[vsrazdem]

14. I think all automatic weapons that fire that many rounds at a time should be banned. Hunters do

not need this type of weapon.

[Recursion]

16. Automatic weapons have been essentially illegal for 85 years

They haven't been used in a homicide in 60 years. So: yes? Nobody disagrees with that.

(Footnote for the pedantic: yes, it is legally possible to own an automatic weapon, but it's so absurdly difficult to do that almost nobody bothers. And anyways automatic weapons are basically never used in crimes.)

[vsrazdem]

18. Well, semiautomatic ban would be fine with me. I read the article from the daughter

of the person who invented these weapons for the military, and she said her father would be devastated to see how they are being used on the streets now.

[Recursion]

19. So then ban semi-automatics. Stop dicking around with complaining about their brand name

That's a great idea. Why isn't O'Rourke or anybody else proposing it?

[vsrazdem]

21. I don't know, but I wish they would.

[Recursion]

24. Me too! I've been saying this for years: just ban semi autos

And it's maddening at this point.

[Mike Nelson]

8. Haunt...

... huh... There are weapons citizens should not own. Weapons designed to massacre crowds of people are among them. I liked the remark... maybe the things Crooked Donald has said will haunt Republicans more.

[Recursion]

11. So *ban those weapons*

That's what I don't get here. If it's this important to you, why are you pushing for a law that keeps these guns legal as long as they change their grip shape?

[Vinca]

9. I think Coons is out of touch with what's going on in the country.

I suspect he only went there because he wants to boost Biden and that pisses me off. Dems fight, Republicans laugh.

[grumpyduck]

15. Confiscate them?

The first thing you need to do to confiscate them is to find out who has them. And yes you can find out who has them if they're registered, or from sales receipts, or whatever. But you can't confiscate them from people that you don't know have them, and that's going to be mostly criminals and terrorists.

I'm sorry, but I agree with Sen. Coons. That comment, and all the spin that will come out of it, will probably lose a shitload of votes from people who would have otherwise voted against that thing in the Oval Office. And right now I think that voting that thing out should be the biggest concern.

[jcgoldie]

20. Maybe some policy issues are too important to play politics with

[lsewpershad]

22. BS coon

[Ohiogal]

23. Do the same thing

that the religion zealots do with abortion.

Keep them legal but place a thousand restrictions on buying one. Purchaser must apply for a permit to own one. Permit must be reviewed by a panel of 3 — a police officer, a psychiatrist, and a judge. Must be registered with local police. Must carry liability insurance. Background check and mandatory two week waiting period a must. Mandatory smart technology (meaning only the purchaser of the gun can fire it). Mandatory security safe.

Eliminate all but one or two stores in each state where you can apply to get one.

[aikoaiko]

25. Coons is right. Its a bad idea. Won't do much and it will empower Republicans.

[qazplm135]

27. Eh

Beto is sitting at two percent. "Years" from now most folks aren't even going to remember him. Sorry to the Beto fans but his next opportunity to run for anything is probably trying to challenge Cruz again 4 years from now.

[Newest Reality]

28. Good for Beto!

I have thought about it, as I bet we all have.

Why live in fear of what we say when we mean what we say and say what we mean?

I think he might have put it a little better, but anybody who has heard the paranoid, conspiracy fantasies on the Right and the NRA's subversive, radical message knows that the fantasy of confiscation is already real to them and has been bandied about for a decade or more.

What difference does adding fuel to that fire make IF we plan on following through to place more restrictions on purchasing and owning guns and criminalizing the ownership of specifically outlined assault weapons and the like?

Keep them on their paranoid edge and then, when it does not come to actual confiscation, but an offer to buy back weapons they hold that have become illegal, no matter how pissy they are about it, they will have to live with disproof of their fearful little pocket of delusions.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

29. Beto is showing he's a leader - not a follower. Go Beto!

[andym]

30. Taking potentially unpopular stands on principal speaks well for O'Rourke

and who knows it may move the needle of public opinion.

[Garrett78]

39. The gun debate is already changing. The people we need in order to win the White House aren't...

...bothered by what Beto said or how he said it.

[33taw]

32. In an election where we need rural voters in WI and MI this approach will only cause problems.

These voters like to hunt and even though these are not hunting rifles, they hear confiscation and pull the red lever.

[Freethinker65]

33. If the Democratic Party cannot fight/defend one fucking sound bite they fucking deserve to lose

I am so sick of this shit.

Just cuz one Democrat proposes something the entire party must stop dead to condone or defend it????
Why don't the Republicans have to waste time defending everything that comes out of one of their own's mouth. Let's start with Trump or McConnell or Rubio or Graham or Pence or Cruz etc. all of which have said much more controversial things in the past weeks/years.

Not that Beto's proposal would ever happen, but the NRA/AR-15 gun toters are outnumbered on this.

[GeorgeGist]

35. Coons is a .'former republican.

[McCamy Taylor]

36. No, it makes it look like Dems have finally grown a pair

[dalton99a]

37. +1. No longer afraid of their own shadows.

Fuck the NRA and their AR-15/AK-47 fetishists

[Hortensis]

38. I'd like to see MORE strong affirmations of principle and action.

The AR-15 semiautomatic rifle may not be technically a full assault weapon, and is used for hunting, opening to criticisms like Coon's. But it's reasonably inexpensive and has been the weapon of choice for a number of mass murders, including Sandy Hook, which creates the argument for requiring special controls.

Coincidentally, I was fantasizing just the other morning about shooting the 5 deer busily eating my shrubs, little ones scampering around their mothers, and I would certainly have chosen an AR-15 over my husband's (dusty) hunting rifle to make sure I got them all.

?itok=1X8HLA_Y

[Iggo]

40. They're gonna do it anyway. Gunfuckers have a million rallying cries. What's one more?

It's a fight.

Start swinging.