U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Days after Democrat Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke blurted his very open threat to take firearms from American citizens during the presidential debate, his bluster could become center stage conversation fodder at this weekend’s 34th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC) in Phoenix.
Co-sponsored by the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, this year’s event has already set a new record for pre-registration, surpassing 1,100, according to SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. GRPC was his brainchild more than three decades ago, and it has become an annual “must” gathering for Second Amendment activists from across the country, and a veritable “Who’s Who” of gun rights advocates.
This weekend's event features some 90 speakers, more than two dozen panel discussions, Friday and Saturday evening receptions and the annual awards luncheon on Saturday. Pre-registration for the event has closed, according to the SAF website.
This weekend’s conference is being held at the Sheraton Crescent hotel, and those planning to attend are waiting for word from the White House about possible proposals to address mass shootings and gun-related violent crime. According to Fox News, White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley says President Donald Trump is taking his time with this issue to avoid passage of “feel-good legislation” instead of measures that actually address the problem.
The president tweeted Wednesday that O’Rourke’s declaration of “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47” has hurt more than helped the process. Trump labeled the former congressman-turned-perennial candidate as “Dummy Beto” and asserted that he “made it much harder to make a deal.”
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
Right now, according to the Associated Press, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is saying Congress is in a “holding pattern” on guns.
O’Rourke isn’t likely to crash the Phoenix conference, but his comment will definitely have a presence. The GRPC is being live-streamed on the SAF Facebook page starting Saturday morning. A link will pop up at the top of the page when the conference goes live.
Democrats are impatient about pushing their gun control agenda, but Gidley told Fox News' “America’s Newsroom” that this process “isn't about feel-good legislation, this is about getting something that accomplishes safety and security for the American people and we hope to see that soon.”
He told the news network that negotiations are in progress.
By no small coincidence, the conference will open Saturday morning with a briefing on federal affairs, so if the White House does announce a new strategy, it will likely be discussed in Phoenix.
This weekend’s conference agenda includes two state legislative affairs briefings, a discussion from the industry’s perspective, current and potential future litigation and a report on gun control in the EU.
Of particular interest will be a Saturday afternoon report from author/researcher John Lott about the dangers of universal background checks, “red flag” laws, and gun-free zones.
Sunday’s program runs a half-day, with panels discussing everything from the growing interest in gun rights within the LGBTQ and minority communities to using new media to advance gun rights. There will also be reports from several Second Amendment organizations.
And lurking in the shadows will be O’Rourke’s debate comment and the fact that none of his fellow presidential candidates raised an eyebrow or lifted a finger to refute what he said.
If O’Rourke’s remark actually did seriously damage the Democrats’ anti-gun agenda—as many suggest it did—his political career may be finished. What he said will not make him popular in Texas, and other Democrats are reportedly now fearful that his comment will smear them all with the same broad brush that gun owners have experienced for decades, being penalized for crimes they didn’t commit.
It is no small irony that O’Rourke has done Trump what may have been a huge favor, and possibly at the expense of his Democrat rivals for the party’s 2020 nomination. While it is clear O’Rourke will get nowhere near the nomination, his words will be hanging in the air over every debate, every primary election and the 2020 convention like a cloud.
His threat has energized gun owners, at least for the time being, and some of that energy is going to be felt this weekend in Phoenix.
RELATED:
Did ‘Beto’ O’Rourke ‘Scramble’ Dem’s Message, or Clarify it?
O’Rourke’s ‘Hell, Yes’ Candor Bares All Democrats’ True Intent On Guns ~ VIDEO
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Received a cartoon in my email today that is pretty good. It shows Dan Rather talking to Beto about his claim that people in Texas want to give him their AR-15s. Beto says yes, they keep coming up to me and saying “Come and Take It”.
Beto must have no desire to actually get elected. Otherwise he would never have made such a comment. Or perhaps he is just an idiot.
Pretty sure one of your options is correct. Thanks for reading!
HE IS JUST A COMPLETE LYING LIBERAL DEMOCRAT! A perfect example of the real thinking of the people at the head of a totally corrupt un-American anti-Constitution group of Nazis heading the Democrat Party. But Beto is so dumb he officially let the gun confiscation cat out of the bag to the chagrin of his dangerous party’s leadership and their sponsors -the likes of Soros and Bloomberg!
Spoke to an acquaintance who works the firearm counter in a LGS and he says O’Rourke will probably sell a lot of AR and AK rifles in the next few weeks just off that dumb quote. He said he had sold a few more AR’s since the debate than normal.
Come and get it, Pünkø!
Isn’t this the guy who fantasized about running over kids with a vehicle? Reckon we should ban him from vehicle possession with criminal penalties attached for violating our ban!
Thank God that idiots in the public eye will sooner or later blow themselves up. Beto just became a suicide bomber for his own campaign.
Beto better watch out… he has made the powers-that-be and his party angry at him and weary of him… he has put their main plan forward… now he is receiving backlash from within… it’s not a good thing to anger the Democratic Party.. that could be hazardous to your health.. just ask Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, John F Kennedy, Seth Rich, or anyone that has run afoul of the Clinton’s.. oh wait nevermind you can’t..
I’m getting more pissed with every passing week that tRUMP STILL WANTS to “MAKE A DEAL” on OUR INALIENABLE Rights!!!! He’s gonna lose his base before we even get to 2020!!!
OUR RIGHTS ARE NOT UP FOR NEGOTIATION. HANDS OFF, MR. PRESIDENT!!
You are really stupid. Also, you write like a communist democrat.
READ his book, The Art of the Deal, you will understand his tactics.
If you are still crying about that plastic kiddie toy, the bump stock, well, you should sell your guns and take up knitting.
Up yours!!! I’m 10,000,000 times more right-wing than you’ll ever HOPE to be!! I’m not some bootlicking FUDD that BLINDLY supports someone JUST BECAUSE they have an “R” behind the name!! THEY HAVE TO ACTUALLY SUPPORT & DEFEND 100% OF THE CONSTITUTION – ESPECIALLY 2A – TO KEEP MY SUPPORT!! ONLY AN IDIOT LIKE YOU WOULD ARGUE TRUMP’S 24-D CHESS ‘STRATEGERY’ IS OUTMANEUVERING ALL THE COMMIECRATS. TRUMP IS AN ANTIGUN NEW YORKER WHO PUT ANTIGUN BUREAUCRATS LIKE WILLIAM BARR IN ALL OF THE TOP POSTS IN HIS ADMINISTRATION. THIS ISN’T JUST ABOUT STUPID PIECES OF PLASTIC! IT’S ABOUT RED FLAG… Read more »
Will, I generally agree with you. However, when at the polling place for every local, state or national election, it is important to vote that (R) candidate, even if you’re not happy with him/her. Think of it as voting against the (D) candidate, if you must. However lame a RINO the (R) guy may be, the (D) will be worse, as he/she becomes part of the Democrat machine.
And don’t forget, if you sit out the election, you give the Democrats an automatic one vote advantage.
That’s why I believe it is so important that RINOs get primaried and replaced with an oathkeeping constitutionalist.
If you truly believe that you are so damnably correct, Betoboy, you hop your happy ass off that political stump and (you, personally!) come right on out to take all 16 million legally, responsibly owned AR15s in this country. One suggestion, though… bring one body bag (no one else will provide one for your worthless carcass).
Bet yor O Dork and the demoncraps/socialist are not just saying “Hand them over” They are saying hand them over or else! Very surprising to hear them say it BEFORE a presidential election especially when they are trying to compromise us out of our GOD GIVEN RIGHTS, our CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED RIGHTS already. Most of us have seen the writing on the wall already: Make the innocent pay for crimes we don’t do, make the entire nation pay for crimes we did not do. Make criminals out of righteous, legal, law abiding people. Felons. There are some very famous felons relative… Read more »
I believe wholeheartedly that what’s coming is inevitable. I would highly recommend that people invest in rope companies, among other things, because I suspect that thousands of tyrants will be swinging from streetlamps before this is over. The fury of the American Patriot over the deliberate subversion/destruction of our Republic will not be contained for much longer. And the tens of millions of commie leftists here should consider rapidly relocating to a socialist utopia country far away from the USA, like China, N. Korea, or Venezuela.