Robert Francis O’Rourke Flip Flops on Federal Gun Licenses
Jose Nino
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Robert “Beto” Francis O’Rourke flip-flopped on gun control.
After Cory Booker unveiled his new gun control plan earlier last week, O’Rourke originally said that Booker’s plan went “too far”, but later changed his stance on it.
During an interview with New Hampshire’s WMUR program CloseUp, O’Rourke was asked to clarify his position about criticizing Booker’s gun plan, which includes a federal firearms license that all gun owners must obtain.
O’Rourke said that “I think that Senator Cory Booker has made an incredibly bold proposal that’s commensurate with the crisis that we see in this country.”
He also highlighted the need to address gun violence:
More than 30,000 of our fellow Americans will lose their lives to gun violence this year. I think his request of us that, in addition to those steps that I just talked about, we put everything on the table to make sure that we address this crisis with the urgency that it demands.
O’Rourke complimented Booker for his efforts to promote radical gun control and believes the idea should be looked into:
I think we should explore that idea and make sure that, at the end of the day, we are focused first and foremost on saving the lives of our fellow Americans.
This contradicted statements that O’Rourke made to Fox News before he went on CloseUp.
O’Rourke originally told Fox News that Booker’s plan “may be too far.”
The former Congressman stated, “I don’t know that we need to take the additional step of licensing every single firearm to every single owner.”
He then added:
I think relying on the responsibility and accountability that gun owners feel—matching that with universal background checks, stopping the sales of weapons of war, red flag laws—that’s the perfect way to compliment the responsible gun ownership that we see in this country right now.
Cory Booker’s gun control radicalism is not surprising considering that he represents one of the most anti-gun states in the country, New Jersey. Guns & Ammo magazine puts it in 50th place.
Texas, on the other hand, is ranked in 9th place according to the same ranking. For that reason, O’Rourke is likely taking an ambiguous stance on Booker’s latest proposal. Despite O’Rourke’s surprising performance against Ted Cruz in 2018, Texas remains a solid red state.
Any form of gun control radicalism could potentially hurt O’Rourke’s chances with moderate gun owners who would otherwise support him on other issues.
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