In gun confiscation showdown, it's Beto vs. Chip
Good day Austin:
I was at the Young Americans for Liberty Convention at the Sheraton Austin Hotel Saturday night where U.S. Rep. Chip Roy declared, "I can tell you, I will not register my firearms with the federal government."
.@chiproytx “I can tell you. I will not register my firearms with the federal government.” At Young Americans for Liberty Convention in Austin.pic.twitter.com/1wYrW4Ovvs
— jonathantilove (@JTiloveTX)September 8, 2019
No mention of "cold, dead hands."
But Roy, appearing just before the convention closer, and YAL god and godfather, Ron Paul, got the ovation one might have expected.
Roy's remarks came only a few hours after Beto O'Rourke, 2,000 miles away, speaking at the New Hampshire Democratic Convention in Manchester, N.H., declared that he not only wants to register every gun in America but have the government take possession of all those that fall into the category of "assault weapons."'
As his campaign summarized his convention speech:
Beto shared his belief that the bold leadership of advocates and reformers— like the students marching for their lives —will ensure that we make healthcare a universal right, pass a reparations bill, and rewrite our immigration laws in our image. He also differentiated himself as the only 2020 presidential candidate with a plan that calls for a mandatory buyback of assault weapons.
“This is a country that has produced the leadership that will ensure that we not only have universal background checks, red flag laws, and end the sale of those weapons of war, but that we go the necessary steps further﹣as politically difficult as they may be,” said Beto. “A gun registry in this country, licensing for every American who owns a firearm, and every single one of those AR-15s and AK-47s will be bought back so they are not on our streets, not in our homes, and do not take the lives of our fellow Americans.”
As he did today in New Hampshire, Beto will continue speaking difficult truths, leading with honesty, and advocating for immediate action to end the culture of hate and violence in our country.
From O'Rourke's remarks:
This is a violent country that loses more than 40,000 of our fellow Americans every year to gun violence. And this is a country that has been defined by foundational, systemic, endemic racism since the very founding of this country, August 20 of 1619, the first time that a kidnapped African was brought here against his will and made to serve as a slave to build the greatness and the success and the wealth of this country, which his descendants would never be able to fully participate in.
This is the reality of the United States of America. And sooner or later, it was going to find us. It wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when.
And on Aug. 3 it did, when a gunman who legally purchased an AK-47, a weapon designed for killing people as effectively as efficiently, in as great a number as possible on a battlefield, drove 600 miles, fueled by that racism, that hate, that fear, and that intolerance that has always been part of this country, but has been given new life by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, who has called Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals, who has sought to ban all Muslim travel to the United States of America, called Klansmen, and Nazis, very fine people. This person rode 600 miles with that hatred, really, at the invitation of our president, and opened fire with an AK-47 on innocent people in a Walmart, killing 22 of them and grievously wounding many dozens more.
Though we are connected to the violence in this country, though we are connected to its racism, though there is no shield against this president who has no honor, no morals, and no ethics, we're also connected to a country that at its best is defined by its ambitions and its aspirations and the hard work and resolve and the dedication of the people of America who want to see them realized. This is a country that has produced Moms Demand. This is a country that has produced March for Our Lives. This is a country that has produced the leadership that will ensure that we not only have universal background checks, and red flag laws and end the sale of those weapons of war, but that we go the necessary steps further, as politically difficult as they may be — a gun registry in this country, licensing for every American who owns a firearm, and every single one of those AR-15s and AK-47s will be bought back so they're not on our streets, not in our homes, do not take the lives of our fellow Americans.
And we're going to do that together
Well, this is spectacular, I thought.
Here we have this epic, historic battle brewing over the place of guns in America, and it can be, in its essence, personified by a mano a mano confrontation between Beto and Chip, former chief of staff to Ted Cruz, whose surprisingly narrow victory over O'Rourke in the 2018 Senate race, launched O'Rourke's presidential campaign.
In this corner, we have Beto O'Rourke, born Sept. 26, 1972 (the year I graduated from high school), and in the opposite corner Chip Roy, born Aug. 7, 1972.
Beto says he wants to register Chip's guns, and require him to sell to the government any assault weapons in his collection, and Chip says, "Come and take it."
Chip vs. Beto.
It should be noted, that O'Rourke's position seems to be gaining public favor in the wake of the recent spate of mass shootings.
Views on gun policy from latest@ABC/@washingtonpost poll (1,003 U.S. adults, MoE +/- 3.5%)
Requiring background checks
Support: 89%
Oppose: 9%
Banning assault weapons
Support: 56%
Oppose: 41%
Mandatory assault weapon buyback
Support: 52%
Oppose: 44%https://t.co/plC3J6zolR
— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek)September 9, 2019
In O'Rourke's turn of phrase, and in the polling, it's called "mandatory buybacks." It might poll a little less well under the name, "confiscation," which sounds so ... confiscatory.
I'm not sure if there is a value-neutral term between buybacks and confiscation.
In a First Reading last week, I worried that O'Rourke's policy of "confiscation with a receipt ... if he attempted to actually implement it as president would lead to a land war in North America, with a score or more Waco sieges across the country, lives lost, compounds burned, redoubts hardened, militias mobilized, and his term as president utterly consumed."
Wherever national public opinion on requiring people to surrender some number of their guns may be, it also seemed like risky political terrain for a man who ran for the U.S. Senate last year saying he had no intention of taking Texans' guns away from them, to be saying something so very different, at least in regard to a certain class of guns. Especially so if, for example, one of the reasons he is saying Democrats should nominate him for president is that he stood a better chance than other candidates of carrying Texas.
I asked Josh Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project, which conducts the University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, whether they had ever polled Texans on the question, and he replied, "We have not asked about buybacks/confiscations — this is still Texas."
The last time the UT/TT poll asked about a ban on semi-automatic weapons was back in 2013, and Texans, by a margin of 49 to 40, were opposed. But that was many a mass murder ago.
Still, there is a considerable distance between banning the sale of something, on the one hand, and retrieving all that which has already been sold of that something, especially when that something had a special appeal to a buyer whose complementary dispositions and worldview may make them disinclined to sell, most especially under duress.
Like the burly guy I saw the other day in Austin with a jacket that had an image of an assault rifle on the back and the words, "Come and take it."
From Charles C.W. Cooke in National Review:
Quite what Beto O’Rourke thinks he is doing remains a mystery to me. By coming out in favor of gun confiscation — and by punctuating his ever-more-hysterical entreaties with studied profanity — he has all-but guaranteed that he will not be president of the United States; that he will not be chosen as the candidate for vice-president of the United States; that he will not be a senator from the state of Texas; that he will not be the governor of the State of Texas; and, in all likelihood, that, wherever he ends up, he will be kept far, far away from the levers of power during any future debate over gun control. And for what? For a policy that O’Rourke knows full well is not going to get anywhere — and that, for all practical purposes, would be pointless even if it did. Rarely has a candidate for political office shown better how vast is the gap between discernible political reality and the sort of self-indulgent speechifying that fans of The West Wing believe drives legislative change in America. Gun confiscation? Is he high?
After his remarks at the New Hampshire Democratic Convention, O'Rourke spoke with reporters.
A reporter asked O'Rourke about his plan while noting that some of his rivals were coming around to his way of thinking on buybacks.
O'Rourke: I think that's a great sign, and I will add, we have had people, gun owners, Republicans, non gun owners, Democrats, have been coming up to me telling me they support this proposal.
We had a guy in (inaudible), first question that was asked, he said, "I am an AR-15 owner and I would gladly give it up, destroy it or sell it to the government, If that's what helps to make us safer. "
Being at a gun show in Conway, Arkansas, and people who are selling AR-15s or AK-47s or buying AK-47s or AR-15s. Some of them disagree with me, but were willing to have the conversation. Others agree with me. (One says) "So I'm a Trump voter, but if selling this back is helpful in reducing violence, I'm all for it. I've got three kids in scholo as well, and I want to make sure that they're safe, they're not afraid."
Beto explains what he learned at the gun show in Arkansas and how to get gun control legislation passed.pic.twitter.com/nQZjebXiP6
— BetoMedia (@BetoMedia)August 21, 2019
O'Rourke was asked about how he would enforce the mandatory buybacks.
O'Rourke: I would expect Americans to comply with the law. And we're seeing some good indications that that will be the case in Texas, there was a story of a man coming forward and has given us an AR-15 to the police department, though he legally purchased it and legally owned it and was responsible about its use and care, realized there's not reason to have a weapon that was designed to kill people.
So we expect Americans to follow the law.
Another reporter asked, "Are you talking about local law enforcement, state or federal law enforcement going door to door going to individuals who may have a banned firearm and saying, `Hey give us your gun.'"
O'Rourke: No, I don't see law enforcement going door-to-door. I see Americans complying with the law. I see us working with gun owners, non-gun owners, working with local. county, federal law enforcement to come up with the best possible solution.
I have yet to meet an owner of an AR-15 who thinks it's OK we have these kind of mass killings in this country.
"So how do you expect to enforce this?" the reporter asked.
O'Rourke:How do you enforce any law? There's a significant reliance on people complying with the law. You know that law is not created in a vacuum, it will have the input of members of Congress,who are going to reflect their constituents' interests, and, at the end of the day, brings a solution that protects your Second Amendment rights while protecting the lives of every0one in this country. I'm confident America can do it.
O'Rourke's position on buybacks was born in the bloodshed of El Paso.
From Paul Steinhauser in the Concord Monitor in March.
During his speech to a couple hundred people at Plymouth State and the ensuing scrum with local and national political reporters, O’Rourke took aim at the sale of assault weapons, skirted his stance on late-term abortions, and called for pre-kindergarten starting for 4-year-olds.
Asked by a member of the crowd about his opinion on assault weapons, O’Rourke repeated his stance that such firearms should be for military use only.
“If you own something like an AR-15 and I’m your president, keep it. Continue to use it responsibly. I don’t want to take anyone’s guns from anyone in the country,” he said.
But he said the AR-15, “which is a variant of something that was designed for battlefield use – I see no reason for it to be sold into our communities.”
And from Travis Morin in he Union Leader in May
SALEM — Former Democratic Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke marked his third presidential campaign visit to the Granite State by drawing a line in the sand on the issue of gun control between himself and 2020 rival Sen. Cory Booker.
Following a Thursday evening event on the banks of Salem’s Millville Lake, O’Rourke told reporters that he thought Booker’s recent call for a federal licensing program for the purchase and ownership of firearms went too far.
“I come from, just like New Hampshire, a very proud, gun-owning state,” O’Rourke said.
“People who use firearms responsibly for hunting; for self protection; for collection. 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, that’s the perfect way to complement the responsible gun ownership that we see in this country right now. I don’t know if we need to take the step of licensing every single firearm to every single owner — I think that may be too far.”
But after El Paso, O'Rourke wanted to be very clear that if he were president, things would be different.
I was asked how I'd address people's fears that we will take away their assault rifles.
I want to be clear: That's exactly what we're going to do. Americans who own AR-15s and AK-47s will have to sell their assault weapons. All of them.pic.twitter.com/YbnSsz3bVy
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke)September 2, 2019
Newsweek reported that:
Following a mass shooting in 1996, Australia banned automatic and semi-automatic rifles and shotguns and instituted a national gun buyback program.
In a year, Australia purchased about 650,000 firearms from private residents, estimated to represent about 20 percent of the country's privately owned guns. Research evaluating the effects of the buyback found a 42 percent decrease in homicide rates and a 57 percent decrease in suicide rates in the seven years after the legislation passed. But some researchers are still uncertain whether this decrease was due to the buyback, or whether it was simply part of an existing downward trend.
Maybe Texans will come to view Come and Take It as not so much a taunt as a ninvitation, as in Please Come and Take It.
But I am skeptical.
Only way my guns will get registered is after the Gov kills me.
— JIMMIE MOORE (@tolovana66)September 8, 2019
Your offer is acceptable
— ATXRambler (@rambler_atx)September 8, 2019
I called Jerry Patterson, the former land commissioner, who as a state senator authored the state's concealed handgun law, to talk about Beto and Chip and guns.
I told him that O'Rourke seems to think most gun owners would willingly cooperate with mandatory buyback.
That drew a hearty laugh.
Patterson: I'd like to know how many bump stocks have been turned in. But bump stocks are different. They're a piece of junk, really. I wouldn't have one."
But when you start talking about giving up a semi-automatic weapon that you spent somewhere between probably $650 and $1,000 on it. You accessorize it with other stuff, you know, different sites, and you did that legally and lawfully and now they're going to tell you you have to turn it in and you're going to do so voluntarily?. That's not going to happen. It's just not. I don't care what the guy did in Austin last week.. It's just not going to happen.
I understand where people on that side are coming from.. And there's some merit to the idea that the AR has become some kind of ticket to being somebody in the minds of some maybenot so bright, young, Anglo men. And I see that. And I can see where it would be the weapon of choice by people who are demented. I understand that.
So we need to find — the preferred method is to identify the people who are demented and see that they have no firearms rather than confiscate, I don't know, how many are there? Five million. There aren't that many AK's, althugh the El Paso shooter used an AK, but there aren't that many AK's out therecompared to the ArmaLite (AR) platform, which is manufactured by many, many companies now. It's just not going to happen. Period. Never.
And if Beto really believes that, then I am concerned about him.
And who are these people? How are you going to find them? There's no federal gun registration. When you buy a gun that (form) 4472 is kept with the FFL (Federal Firearms License) license holder, it has to be kept for 20 years. I guess if the Feds decided they were going to expend the manpower to go visit every FFL in the United States, and go through all that paperwork to find out who brought the AR's.
It's not possible, it will not happen.
Patterson believes a more effective and achievable response would be "some kind of emergency risk protective order" — a red flag law.
"I would not wand the Feds to do it," he said. "It should be done on a state-by-state basis. I don't trust the Feds."
But that's unacceptable to Roy, who noted at the YAL Convention that he is a "proud member of the Gun Owners of America," a more militant alternative to the NRAthat uses a quote from Ron Paul to described itself as "the only no-compromise gun lobby in Washington."
.@RonPaul “I must confess I am for some gun regulation. I think we should take all of guns away from all the federal bureaucrats.”#yalcon Austin.pic.twitter.com/QzqzbmwM8S
— jonathantilove (@JTiloveTX)September 8, 2019
Roy: I do think we have to stand strong right now stronger than ever. Because the left is motivated like they've never been before. And Republicans are going along with it. I'm telling you, in the United States Congress, even right here in Texas, members of the Republican Party are going wobbly on the second amendment and your right to defend your families.
Red flag laws in my view, are the camel nose under the tent to confiscate our weapons.
Due process matters. The Second Amendment matters.
.@chiproytx: "Even right here in Texas, people in the Republican Party are going wobbly on the Second Amendment and your right to defend your families and this country. Red flag laws are the camel's nose under the tent to confiscate our weapons." At YAL Convention in Austin.
— jonathantilove (@JTiloveTX)September 8, 2019
Roy:The other day I was being interviewed by local media personality at the Texas Tribune, and everyone's asking me about my willingness to ban so-called weapons of war And so I said to him, `What do you mean?' And he didn't have an answer. No one can define it. It's scary. It has certain sites, or some certain kind of stock, or certain kind of design feature. And so I kept asking that question and pointed out that he had referred to automatic weapons that were used in Odessa and El Paso.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is the problem, the misinformation that is used to tell the American people that they should be afraid of the very weapons, the semi automatic weapons, the standard we all use to defend ourselves and to defend our country. And I tell you, for sure, there is a purposeful effort to come after those weapons. You don't need to look any further than Beto O'Rourke and the Democrats who say specifically, that they want to take our weapons.
xxxx
What I said in the wake of one of the last tragedies, I said, there is a sickness that was engulfing our nation. It is evil and that evil is manifesting itself increasingly in the form of mass carnage perpetrated by cowards ... There's undoubtedly a growing segment of sick racists, often in their 20s, who carry out these crimes who offer some twisted screed or manifesto as an explanation for that which has no explanation and is just evil.
Our job is to give law enforcement, the tools necessary to combat it, our judicial system has to punish it, within the confines of the Constitution. We should look deeply into our societal mirror to address this cultural rot. But at its core, we are losing the sense of community and purpose across civiil society gave us the ability to live responsibly in society.
That is what I beliveve is necessary to deal with these kind of tragedies, not the upending of the right of law-abiding, good American citizens.
And I can tell you this, I will not register my firearms with the federal government.
