Robert Francis O'Rourke promises to take legally owned AR15s during debate and puts shirt on sale with boast

During last night’s debates, he reiterated that in response to recent mass shootings, he wanted to do mandatory buybacks of AR-15s as well as other so-called weapons for the battlefield (seemingly confusing an AR-15 with a select-fire M16 or M4). This is a change from what he said last year when he denied that he wanted to disarm legal AR-15 owners. He is also taking advantage of his statement with his new campaign shirt:

While he has received a lot of praise for his vow, he also received a lot of critics, to include some from Democrats that stated his vow could cost them gun-owning moderates they need to defeat Trump in 2020. Texas Republican lawmaker Briscoe Cain responded by telling Beto his AR-15 is "ready for you," which removed by Twitter. Cain was also reported to authorities by Beto's campaign.

What do you think? Is it a good idea for Beto to promise that he will partially disarm America when he is trying to get people that voted for Donald Trump to vote for him in 2020? Or does it really matter at this point considering his current poll numbers?

Also, while I welcome debate and rebuttals, if anybody wants to reply with “Well, Trump said (insert statement here)” in an attempt to derail the thread then you may want to consider one of the many other anti-Trump threads already open or open another one instead.

I forgot that dude existed.

Well, I see enough "I'm With Her" bumper stickers while driving on the highway around here, so I guess that will be a nice souvenir in a few years...

SOLD OUT IN 6 HOURS

@jeezers said:

SOLD OUT IN 6 HOURS

Looks like he's an even better rifle salesman than David Hogg could ever hope to be.

@jeezers: lol reminds me of an ammo store that decided to sell all the ammo banned by Wal-Mart in bulk

Beto is gonna get his ass shot if he keeps this up. He is seriously underestimating the fanaticism of the gun-toting constitutionalists.

Certainly doesn't help he is from Texas, either, though it might be funny to see Texas go blue.

@jeezers said:

SOLD OUT IN 6 HOURS

Hahahahah that's great. Tempted to buy one myself.

Some general opinion data on this topic,

Of all the countries that fought the British Crown with guns, only America views these as sacred.

Nice way to end your chances of winning while boosting sales of said weapon you don't like, the stupidity is strong with that guy.

Why is it Robert Francis in the thread title? Do you call Jeb Bush “John Ellis” or Ted Cruz “Rafael”? Hard to tell if this thread was actually created in good faith.

He already had no chance of winning.

It certainly wouldn't be due to supporting an AR Ban, which more popular than not banning them. Going by every poll this year.

This guy is such a pathetic pandering weasel. The defenition of a white guilt liberal.

@vl4d_l3nin said:

@jeezers: lol reminds me of an ammo store that decided to sell all the ammo banned by Wal-Mart in bulk

Thats awesome hahahaha

@mrbojangles25: Pretty good deal honestly, made me want to snag one (dont have an AK, like them tho) just for the blunt marketing, but cant be buying any more guns, putting money to the side for a new rig. priorities..

@zaryia: Lol, hello Mr. Delusional, how are you today?

Can you please clarify your post as to what you think I said was incorrect, because this kind of constant spam is against forum rules. You enter several threads I post in and use this line and exit, and never post again after I prove you were incorrect with factual citation (through verified sources).

This constant behavior constitutes as spamming and or trolling (as well you being a little bitch).

https://www.gamespot.com/forums/political-gamers-909409192/please-read-code-of-conduct-for-political-gamers-b-33381063/

Not the best way to go about doing it and I don't know why anyone is crying about his statement either. But some weapons are banned FYI. I mean the support for gun ownership goes with hunting rifles and self defense. Those weapons aren't needed for that.

@mrbojangles25:

Fear not. Nobody is going to shoot Robert Francis. Speaking on behalf of the gun-toting constitutionalists, we aren't worried this wannabe tyrant will ever have his hands on the levers of power.

I hope Robert Francis keeps talking like this. Based on the level of applause his tirade generated among the democrat faithful in the auditorium, we can only hope that his call to forcibly confiscate lawfully purchased guns from law abiding citizens becomes a litmus test for all the democrat candidates for federal office.

The democrat party base should start a movement that demands every candidate for federal office sign a pledge to support this, or face a primary challenge. Specifically, get them to sign a pledge to support the forcible confiscation of all guns covered by DiFi's Assault Weapon Ban of 2019.

Based on polling data posted in this thread, taking such a position will launch the democrats to full power in DC.

Go for it.

That's like campaigning on a Hindu country for eating cows.

Not necessarily.

Two-thirds of Americans support assault weapons ban: Fox News poll

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/457481-two-thirds-support-assault-weapons-ban-fox-news-poll

56 to 41 percent, the public supports banning the sale of assault weapons.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/10-fear-mass-shooting-gun-laws-poll/story?id=65414785

While it's not a super majority popular idea, it's certainly far more popular than several mainstream GOP ideas that GOP president's always run on. This isn't really the kind of thing that ends a Presidency as people are making it out to be ITT. His chances were already long gone for months now.

He said buy it back. Not forcibly confiscate. While it polls higher than not banning them, it wouldn't be the hill I died on. Public opinion on it changes wildly as shootings happen (and they happen quite frequently so it's a lot of wild shifts). So while I'm sure it doesn't hurt them as much as people are making it out to ITT, it shouldn't be their main push.

I would stick on healthcare, climate, and bashing Trump on stuff most people dislike about him (like his failed Trade War), which helped them secure the largest voter gap in history for 2018.

Just to be clear you are against Trump's idea of ending birth right citizenship then right? You are also watching closely on the Emoluments fight right?

A bit off topic I know just wanna make sure you are a true constitutionalist!

@zaryia:

"Hell yes we are going to take your AR-15, your AK-47...."

Sounds like he's planning on taking, i.e. confiscating them, to me.

The government never owned my AR or my AK, so how can it buy them back ??

The bottom line is, I own them now, but under Robert Francis' regime, I will not be allowed to own them anymore, lest I become a criminal.

Like I said, make this the official democrat stance and see how well it plays come election night.

Second part of that,

"If it's a weapon that was designed to kill people on the battlefield, we're going to buy it back."

Reading is KEY.

@zaryia: the AR-15 armalite rife which is semi automatic is not a millitary grade weapon, no one is using this in the millitary. You are thinking of an M-16.

Edit: Betos comment shows he has no idea what an AR-15 is

Just going to put this out this information about the good ol' Beto O'Dork.

REMINDER:

This man got drunk.

He then decided to drive a car.

He drove that car at a deadly speed & launched it into oncoming traffic.

He hit an innocent person.

He fled the scene.

Yep, real pillar of society! He is the type of person that actually kills more people then AR15s do. ROFLMAO!

I promise he will never get mine and no one in this country will come and take any of my constitutional protected guns period.

When did I say or argue any of this?

Beto has no idea what he is even talking about when it comes to guns and @zaryia is exactly the same. The only two things they know is guns make loud noises and they are scary. Funny the ones wanting to ban everything are the ones that know nothing about guns or even understand them. Get educated over what you are even talking about and quit being Google warriors.

400 million guns in this country. .0009% of those guns will ever kill anyone and 2/3 of those deaths are suicide. That point right their proves guns are pretty damn safe in this country. We have plenty of other things that kill more people each year that no one gives two craps about and they don't want to fix those issues.

Gun confiscation is nothing more then a fake crisis.

Deleware Dem, who is working with Republicans on gun control legislation, fears Beto just ruined that.

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

GG Beto

Maybe he is actually a salesman for AR15.

This is just awesome! Reminds me I need to build another AR15 may actually go .224 Valkyrie for the range and buy 5K more rounds of .223/5.56 ammo. About to cool off and will be gun range weather soon enough!

@jeezers said:

@vl4d_l3nin said:

@jeezers: lol reminds me of an ammo store that decided to sell all the ammo banned by Wal-Mart in bulk

Thats awesome hahahaha

@ad1x2 said:

@jeezers said:

SOLD OUT IN 6 HOURS

Looks like he's an even better rifle salesman than David Hogg could ever hope to be.

Beto O' Dork strikes again! ROFLMAO!

It seems like you're ignoring the purpose of a mandatory buyback, which is what he is proposing. It's like if some politician banned violent games, but said he'll buy them back from you by offering you $10 for a game you paid $60 for (probably more than Gamestop is offering, but Gamestop isn't going to throw you in jail for refusing their offer). Still a ban.

Hey AR-15 owner, I'll give you $200 for that "assault rifle" you paid $1500 for, that's my final offer. By the way, if you don't sell it to me, I'll have you arrested and you get nothing but a criminal record, so my $200 offer is more than fair, right?

Some anti-gun politician that pushed an outright rifle ban through Congress

Yeah, totally not confiscation since they're offering me money for it...

Besides, like I said in the OP, we don't use AR-15s on the battlefield like Beto and several other politicians vowing to ban so-called assault rifles are claiming. The only exclusively semiautomatic firearm I ever held in Iraq or Afghanistan was an M9, and I still had an M16 or M4 to go with it.

What did I say that was wrong?

I never made a classification for AR-15, as I'm not really interested in a semantics debate.

I'm just posting polling and saying this isn't what killed Beto's chances. He never had a chance for weeks and public opinion for bans on weapons like AR15 (among others that were previously banned) is higher than not banning them.

Straw-Men are bad.

Poor Beta he is really desperate and it looks like he might ruin any shot of ever becoming a senator for Texas.

But I have to admit I do agree with him on one point, there is zero reasons for anyone to own an AR15 in America.

Also Zaryia again with the opinion polls which has zero impact on the actual election.

I never said the poll would impact the election.

I'm just stating a majority of Americans support a ban, and that Beto never had a chance anyway.

National Opinion Polls are not supposed to have an impact on an election, just show public sentiment. They can predict election results when done close to an election. Public opinion can shift rapidly, so they are just a snap-shot on the current opinion.

In order to make opinion polling regarding our laws more accurate, each question should be followed up with "Did you vote for a representative that reflects this idea?" If the answer is "no" then their vote is removed from the poll, because it isn't relevant.

It's amazing libs hold democracy to the high heavens, yet don't have a full understanding of how it works.

Right now the democratic candidates are desperately trying to out-do each other with homer-esque statements. Making criminals out of law-abiding citizens is quite weak, IMO, but expected considering his hatred for a firearm is taking priority over all else.

Semantics aside, no, it wouldn't be a buy back. It would be a forced sale. Look at other states, where the stroke of a democratic pen made criminals of law-abiding persons, and tell me how the people are compliant.

@zaryia:

So, if I decline the government's offer to purchase my guns, will I be allowed to keep them? Or will they be taken from me?

@comeonman: There can't be retroactive effect or force, that would be unconstitutional.

The NY SAFE act is a big success, yes? The amount of noncompliance is worthy of applaud!

They were pretty accurate for 2018 when it came to the big issue topics. But the thing is there were far more important issues than guns.

I just don't see being pro Assault Style Weapon ban as a huge reason someone would lose considering most Americans want them banned. Nor do I see any studies or surveys suggesting as such.

It would be nice to see how those surveys were worded. Plus, we would need to take into effect what the people taking the survey think an assault weapon is. Did they think it referred to a fully automatic firearm, for example? Those are for the most part already illegal for civilian ownership. Or did they include AR-15s or other semiautomatic firearms in their definition of assault weapons?

Surveys are great to get an idea of how the public feels, but you can word surveys to make the conclusion you want more likely to be met, or you can have people taking it that don't totally understand the question. Also, Beto saying he wants to ban "assault rifles" is a great way to lose pro-gun areas, especially if they fear Democrats will go after pistols and/or shotguns next. His statement probably ruined his chance to run for Senate in Texas ever again, and he's that much less likely to even make it out of the primaries.

You know he screwed up when some fellow Democrats are upset because Beto may have cost them the moderates in purple areas over eight words. Nobody is worried about losing the AOCs or the Nancy Pelosis because the places they were elected in are deep blue. It's the Kyrsten Sinemas and the Doug Joneses that Beto just screwed over.

@zaryia: Well except the majority don't want that, your delusions are kicking in again.

Hush, you petulant child

P.S. I'd take it you'd be equally stunned most people are also against the trade war, tariffs, the wall, and Trump's job performance; while being for cannabis legalization, taxing the rich more, and side with Dems on healthcare and climate. Sorry to shatter your reality.

You said it was a gun designed to be on the battlefield, this gun is never going to be on the battlefield,

where you quoted Beto's words