Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg heavily criticized presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's plan to have mandatory confiscation of AR-15s and AK-47s.
Bloomberg, a staunch gun control supporter, was asked about O'Rourke's proposal during his interview on "Firing Line with Margaret Hoover."
"That's why I won't be a candidate of the Democratic Party. Because it's so impractical. I don't know how you'd even do it. It would be such a rallying cry for people that say they're overstepping their bounds," Bloomberg said.
"That is not the way to win this issue," he continued. "First thing, AK-47s should not be in the hands of individuals. They are guns built, not [for] hunting, they're guns built to kill the maximum number of people as quickly as you can, and we shouldn't have them."
Bloomberg said Democrats should instead focus on going after the gun manufacturers and passing universal background checks, "but how you would go and get those back out — you might have an incentive program and maybe people would turn them in, but I don't even think that would happen."
Bloomberg continued to hit O'Rourke's plan as "so impractical" because "people who have guns, tend to have lots of guns" and calling for confiscation "just isn't all that productive."
“Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15 and your AK-47,” @BetoORourke has said.
— Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) September 27, 2019
Gun safety advocate @MikeBloomberg reacts: "That's why I won't be the candidate of the Democratic Party.... It would be such a rallying cry for people that say they are overstepping their bounds.” pic.twitter.com/DI8e4aTPs4
During September's Democratic primary debate, O'Rourke said, "Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47, we’re not going to allow it to be used on fellow Americans anymore," to rousing applause from the audience.