Beto O'Rourke found little support from Democrats for his, "hell yes I'll take your guns away" idea at the last DNC debate. Sen. Joe Manchin, a moderate Democrat representing West Virginia, spoke for many lawmakers when he said that O'Rourke is entitled to his opinion, but he can take a hike.
"Beto's one human being," Manchin said. "He gave his own opinion, OK? I think it was very harmful to make it look like all the Democrats. I can tell you one thing: Beto ORourke's not taking my guns away from me. You tell Beto that, OK?"
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wasn't eager about O'Rourke's plan either, telling the press that he can't name even one Democrat who supports it.
That's when O'Rourke challenged Schumer to name one thing he's ever done for the gun control movement.
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: "I don’t know of any other Democrat who agrees with @BetoORourke."#NEW O'Rourke fires back tonight: "Ask @SenSchumer what he’s been able to get done. We still don’t have background checks. Didn’t have them when he was in the majority either." pic.twitter.com/2cGPtB8o5x
— Jeffrey Cook (@JeffreyCook) September 20, 2019
"We still don’t have background checks," O'Rourke said, questioning Schumer's leadership. "Didn’t have them when he was in the majority, either. So the game that he’s played, the politics that he’s pursued have given us absolutely nothing and have produced a situation where we lose nearly 40,000 of our fellow Americans every year.”
The former Texas lawmaker insisted that, while he may not have Washington support, he has voter support for his mandatory gun buyback proposal. He's so confident that he's now suggesting he'd expand his plan to include all semiautomatic firearms.
Tonight, a man shot at Columbine HS asked @BetoORourke why he isn't calling for a ban on ALL semiautomatic weapons. Beto offered this to reporters: "If there's a way to improve what we've proposed, I want to make sure we're reflecting that." pic.twitter.com/VIR8eWMz5h
— Ryan Haarer (@RyanHaarer) September 20, 2019