Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rouke (D) sidestepped a key issue during the debate that took place on Friday night.
According to Breitbart News, O’Rourke refused to say whether he is for or against taking AR-15 rifles from the people of Texas.
Background
On Friday night, O’Rourke faced off against incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on the debate stage. The duel lasted for one hour, and the candidates went back and forth on a number of key issues, including gun control.
Gun control is a particularly important issue for the people of Texas for several reasons. It was in Texas, after all, that the Uvalde school shooting took place. And, O’Rourke is among those Democrats who have called for gun control legislation following that massacre.
But, on top of this, there is a very good reason why a Texas voter would want to hear what O’Rourke’s position is on AR-15 confiscation.
In 2019, during the Democratic candidate’s presidential debate, the reader may remember that O’Rourke famously said, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15.” In other words, O’Rourke came out in favor of a gun control policy that would include the government confiscation of AR-15 rifles from Americans.
O’Rourke, since then, has received a lot of backlash for that remark. And so, more recently, in February of this year, O’Rourke walked the statement back, instead claiming that he is “not interested in taking anything from anyone.”
O’Rourke’s refusal to answer
Given these conflicting positions, the moderator of the debate that took place between Abbott and O’Rourke on Friday, thought that it would be a good idea in order to try to get O’Rourke to pick a side on the issue. So, the moderator put the question to O’Rourke.
O’Rourke responded by going off on a tangent, discussing other gun control measures he would like to pursue. But, O’Rourke did not answer the question about the confiscation of AR-15s from Americans.
So, the moderator put the question to O’Rourke for a second time. O’Rourke, again, refused to answer. He only said, “I am for making sure that we make progress.”
So, it appears that this is one piece of information that O’Rourke is simply not going to give the voters. We’ll have to see how this strategy works out for him.
The polls currently have Abbott comfortably in the lead.