Even some Democrats aren't thrilled with Beto O'Rourke's debate stage gun control comments

Bill Hemmer and David Cicilline.
(Image credit: Screenshot/Fox News)

Beto O'Rourke's pledge during Thursday's Democratic debate in Houston to "take your AR-15" still has people talking, The Hill reports. But it turns out even some Democrats aren't sure it was the smartest thing to say.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) told host Bill Hemmer on Fox News Sunday that O'Rourke's comments were not particularly helpful at the moment, as members of Congress try to enact realistic gun reform. Cicilline also used the opportunity to point out that no one in Congress has proposed confiscation legislatively, and that lawmakers instead are focusing on other reform measures such as universal background checks.

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O'Rourke's fellow Democratic presidential candidate, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, said Sunday he thinks O'Rourke's message could play into the hands of gun reform opponents, echoing Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) who said Friday that the O'Rourke clip "will be played for years at Second Amendment rallies."

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Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, also appearing on Fox News Sunday, said "we're not going to allow bad actors who should not have firearms in the first place to be the excuse for a bunch of liberals and socialists to confiscate firearms from law abiding citizens." Read more at The Hill. Tim O'Donnell

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.