STATE

O'Rourke shifts gun debate

Nicole Cobler
ncobler@statesman.com
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke emphatically called for a mandatory assault weapon buyback program at the Sept. 12 debate at Texas Southern University in Houston. [David J. Phillip/The Associated Press]

Beto O'Rourke had been campaigning on his newly formed policy on gun limits — developed in the wake of the Aug. 3 mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso — but it hadn't quite struck a political nerve until he spelled it out at the Democratic presidential debate in Houston this month.

“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” he said, answering a question about whether his idea to enact a mandatory buyback program for assault-style rifles is akin to gun confiscation.

The declaration appears to have left O’Rourke in no man’s land, with Democrats slow to rush to his side — and some worrying the issue could hurt Democratic prospects in 2020 — and Republicans using the plan as a way to take aim at broader gun proposals by Democrats.

But political experts say that even if the line is polarizing, it can keep the former El Paso congressman — who continues to poll in the low single digits nationally and in early nominating states — in the race.

O’Rourke “is getting exposure, but he’s also being painted as the gun control candidate," said Seth McKee, a Texas Tech University associate professor of political science. "That’s not a really good place to be when you’re running for president."

His Democratic opponents are split over the issue.

READ MORE: Beto O'Rourke and Julián Castro each had a debate moment, but will their campaigns benefit?

When asked on CNN last weekend whether O'Rourke was playing into Republican hands, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., said yes. 

"We have agreement among the American people for not just universal background checks, but we have a majority in favor of red flag laws, high-capacity magazines, banning the new sale of assault weapons," Buttigieg said. "This is a golden moment to finally do something."

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the front-runner in the primary race, supports a voluntary buyback program, along with U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. U.S. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California support a mandatory buyback program.

Former U.S. Housing Secretary Julián Castro, the other Texan in the race, proposed a buyback program but has not clarified whether it would be mandatory. Castro's campaign did not return requests for comment.

Democrats in Congress and in Texas have largely stayed away from a mandatory gun buyback program.

On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters that O’Rourke did not speak for all Democrats and is “not taking my guns away from me.” U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said he would not support mandatory buybacks because “we need to focus on what we can get done.”

But O’Rourke hasn’t backed down from his call, despite concerns that his viral debate moment could keep Republicans and Democrats from reaching a bipartisan deal.

The media needs to stop fear-mongering. The only guns you will have to sell back are weapons of war, designed to kill as efficiently and effectively as possible. The American people are with me on this: AR-15s and AK-47s belong on the battlefield, not in our communities.pic.twitter.com/SJDG0oPA49

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke)September 19, 2019

The debate over buying back assault weapons comes six weeks after a Texas man was accused of using an AK-47 to kill 22 people in an El Paso Walmart.

O’Rourke, who served three terms in the U.S. House, took a break from the campaign trail to spend time in his hometown in the days after the shooting.

“The media needs to stop fear-mongering,” O’Rourke tweeted Thursday. “The only guns you will have to sell back are weapons of war, designed to kill as efficiently and effectively as possible. The American people are with me on this: AR-15s and AK-47s belong on the battlefield, not in our communities.”

Public opinion

Republicans unsurprisingly have used O'Rourke's gun buyback plan to attack Democrats’ broader gun control policies. President Donald Trump blasted O’Rourke on Twitter, saying Wednesday: "Dummy Beto made it much harder to make a deal. Convinced many that Dems just want to take your guns away. Will continue forward!"

Dummy Beto made it much harder to make a deal. Convinced many that Dems just want to take your guns away. Will continue forward!https://t.co/87jvaYUkyn

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)September 18, 2019

Texas’ GOP U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz strongly objected to the idea, and Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called O’Rourke a “gun confiscator.”

“Beto O'Rourke has thrown gasoline on this discussion, which I think had been proceeding along a pretty calm, rational and logical path, by suggesting that even law-abiding citizens would see their AR-15s and AK-47s confiscated by the federal government," Cornyn told Texas reporters. "He's set back the debate a lot, maybe by not just years but decades."

Yet despite the sharp responses, recent national polling shows support for requiring owners of assault-style rifles to turn in their guns.

A Washington Post-ABC poll this month found that 52% of respondents support a mandatory federal buyback program, which broke down to 74% of Democrats, half of independents and a third of Republicans. Even more — 56% — support banning the sale of assault weapons.

A UT-Tyler online poll released Thursday found that 49% of Texans supported a mandatory buyback program. The survey drew from a sample of 1,199 registered voters during a three-day period after the debate, with a margin of error plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. Roughly 28% opposed a buyback program, and 13% had a neutral opinion.

The poll also found that a majority of registered voters in Texas universal support background checks for potential gun buyers, a nationwide ban on high-capacity magazines and red flag laws that let family members and police seek a court order temporarily removing guns from those found to be a threat to themselves and others.

“He’s not concerned about a general election right now,” University of Texas political science professor Daron Shaw said of O'Rourke. "He’s concerned about identifying and branding himself in a race with a lot of candidates who hold very similar issues to him."

Shaw, who works on polls for Fox News, Texas Lyceum and UT-Texas Tribune, said O’Rourke’s position has the potential to mobilize rural voters who strongly oppose mandatory gun buybacks.

“The real threat, I think, is a sort of rural resentment,” Shaw said. “If that’s something that faded through tariffs and other conditions, is that something you reanimate through guns?"

History of buybacks

Gun buybacks in the U.S. aren’t new, but a mandatory program would be. A handful of cities and states have previously implemented voluntary buyback programs.

“To make it mandatory is not really meaningful for the reason that they don’t know who owns which assault weapons,” said Robert Spitzer, chairman of the political science department at the State University of New York College at Cortland and a gun policy expert.

If a buyback program were to be implemented, federal officials could draw from the March policy that banned bump stocks — the attachment that allows a semi-automatic weapon to fire continuously. The devices were relatively uncommon and little known before they were found in the hotel room of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock on Oct. 1, 2017, after he opened fire into a crowd of outdoor concert attendees.

Although there’s not a national registry of bump stocks, a review by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives estimated that there were 280,000 to 520,000 bump stocks in circulation, a little more than 2,000 retailers that sold the device and one manufacturer that still made the device ahead of the ban.

When the Trump administration’s ban went into effect, bump stock owners were asked to turn in or destroy their bump stocks. Possessing a bump stock could result in up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine — the same punishment for illegally possessing a machine gun. The bureau declined to comment on the number of the devices that have been turned in.

Under O’Rourke’s proposal, hanging onto an assault weapon could result in a fine, though the amount isn't specified. But federal officers won’t be going door to door to collect firearms, according to Chris Evans, a spokesman for O’Rourke.

“We expect people to follow the law here in the United States, and we know that Americans are law-abiding people,” Evans told the American-Statesman. “If you continue to violate the law, despite warning and fine, then the penalty escalates — just like any other act of lawlessness in this country."

Recent U.S. mass shootingsAug. 31: Seth Aaron Ator, armed with an AR-15 type rifle, went on a shooting spree in Odessa and Midland, killing seven people. Police confronted him in a movie theater parking lot and killed him in a shootout.

Aug. 4: Wielding a semi-automatic rifle with a 100-round drum magazine, Connor Betts killed 10 people in 32 seconds in a bar district in Dayton, Ohio. He was killed by police.

Aug. 3: Patrick Crusius is accused of driving 650 miles from Allen to an El Paso Walmart and, killing 22 people with an AK-47. Crusius was arrested and later told police he was targeting "Mexicans."

May 31: Longtime city worker DeWayne Craddock opened fire in a building that houses Virginia Beach, Va., government offices. He killed 12 people and wounded several others before he was gunned down by police.

Feb. 15: Gary Martin killed five co-workers at a manufacturing plant in Aurora, Ill., during a disciplinary meeting where he was fired. He died in a shootout with police.

Nov. 7: Ian David Long killed 12 people at a country music bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif., before taking his own life.

Oct. 27: Robert Bowers is accused of opening fire at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh during Shabbat morning services, killing 11 and injuring others. He was armed with an AR-15 and three semi-automatic pistols, all of which he used in the attack, police said.

June 28, 2018: Jarrod Ramos shot through the windows of the Capital Gazette offices in Annapolis, Md., before turning the weapon on employees there, killing five at The Capital newspaper.

May 18, 2018: Dimitrios Pagourtzis began shooting during an art class at Santa Fe High School south of Houston. The 17-year-old killed eight students and two teachers, and 13 others were wounded.

Feb. 14, 2018: Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.

Nov. 5, 2017: Devin Patrick Kelley, who had been discharged from the Air Force after a domestic violence conviction, used an AR-style firearm to shoot up a congregation at a small church in Sutherland Springs, southeast of San Antonio, killing more than two dozen.

Oct. 1, 2017: Stephen Paddock opened fire on an outdoor music festival on the Las Vegas Strip from the 32nd floor of a hotel-casino, killing 58 people and wounding more than 500.

— Staff and wire reports