Former congressman Beto O’Rourke snapped at a heckler who laughed at O’Rourke’s rant about the shooting in Ulvade, Texas.
"It may be funny to you motherf—er, but it's not funny to me": Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke snapped at a man during a town hall on Wednesday who started laughing as O'Rourke discussed the gun used in the deadly Uvalde mass shooting. pic.twitter.com/sHCXh2mIpW
— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 11, 2022
O’Rourke was at a town hall in Mineral Wells, Texas, on Wednesday as part of his campaign for governor.
“I’m gonna make sure that, now, 11 weeks since we lost 19 kids and their two teachers shot to death with a weapon originally designed for use in combat, legally purchased by an 18-year-old, who did not try to obtain one when he was 16 or 17, but followed the law that was on the books, ladies and gentlemen, that says you can buy not one, but you can buy two or more if you want to, AR-15s, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and take that weapon that was originally designed for use on the battlefields of Vietnam to penetrate an enemy’s soldier helmet at 500 feet and knock him down dead, up against kids at five feet,” O’Rourke said in reference to the Uvalde shooting, as a person in the crowd laughed.
“It may be funny to you motherf—er, but it’s not funny to me, OK,” said the failed candidate for both the U.S. Senate and the presidency to his heckler.
Beto’s crowd cheered for him, and he continued with his speech.
Decorum should be front and center for a politician, especially at a rally in which families with children could be present. However, if you are on the left, then you can do no wrong, of course. The sad thing is that this sort of behavior might resonate well with his younger base, who often sees “real talk” (a code name for profanity) as more sincere than speaking professionally and having actual talking points.
Speaking of talking points, trying to say that legally buying an AR-15 is wrong is such an odd take. “You can buy not one, but you can buy two or more if you want to,” says the failed presidential candidate.
The correct response is, “Yes? So what?”
Legally obtaining a firearm is not an issue. It’s what the Uvalde shooter did with his firearm that was illegal. Unfortunately, stabbings occur too. Should we stop selling knives? Disband the restaurant industry? Outlaw the culinary arts? Should we ban anything pointy? Anything that can be used as a baton?
Guns aren’t bad; people are bad. Taking guns away from law-abiding citizens does not stop people from breaking the law. Mass shootings and murder are already illegal. We need to enforce the laws that we already have, not make more unconstitutional laws that punish law-abiding citizens.
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