Anti-Gunner Robert Francis ‘Beto’ O’Rourke Eyeing Another Run

By Larry Keane

Texas Gun iStock-884200682
O’Rourke, a former Democratic Texas U.S. Congressman, aimed for higher office and missed the target. IMG iStock-884200682

U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- In Texas, someone who’s all talk with little to show is said to be “All hat. No cattle.” Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke, with his gun confiscation schemes, wears a hat to block out the sun. That’s not stopping him from eyeing a possible run for Texas governor in 2022.

O’Rourke, a former Democratic Texas U.S. Congressman, aimed for higher office and missed the target. He was soundly defeated by incumbent Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018. He launched a presidential campaign, in 2019, based on strict gun control that crashed and burned after only seven months.

Given the historic gun sales from 2020 and the continuing trend in 2021, O’Rourke should listen to voters and hang up his hat.

Round ‘Em Up

O’Rourke has plenty of gun confiscation scheme highlights, but he’s most notable for declaring, “Hell Yes, we’re going to take your AR-15!” on the debate stage. He continued to say that Americans who don’t turn in their guns would face consequences.” He was arguing for his plans for a mandatory “buyback” program on all lawfully-owned Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs). Of course, the government would use taxpayer dollars to seize something they never owned. “Buyback” is a misnomer. It’s more like coerced surrender of private property.

O’Rourke later waffled when faced with the violation of Constitutional rights his confiscation plan would set off. He added those who didn’t want to watch their private property hauled off by government agents could register them under the 1934 National Firearms Act. It is a position adopted by the Biden administration that carries a $34 billion tax bill. That scheme would require a national gun registry which is a non-starter for Second Amendment supporters and gun rights legislators. Recent survey data shows MSRs are the most popular-selling centerfire rifle available, with more than 20 million MSRs in circulation today.

O’Rourke’s wants Texas to go the way of California with a gun-control platform that includes universal background checks that criminalize private transfers, support for unworkable microstamping requirements, banning adults under 21 from owning a gun, gun rationing limits of one-gun-per-month and more. He’s big on limiting the rights of law-abiding Americans, not so much for criminals.

Gun Czar No Go

O’Rourke’s Texas senate campaign against Sen. Cruz fell flat after he was soundly rejected by Lone Star voters. His 2019 short-lived presidential campaign did even worse. After President Joe Biden all but secured the Democratic nomination in 2020, O’Rourke joined him at a campaign rally in Dallas to formally endorse him.

Biden returned the favor and praised O’Rourke, saying, “I’m gonna guarantee you this is not the last you’ve seen of this guy! You’re going to take care of the gun problem with me. You’re gonna to be the one who leads this effort. I’m counting on you.”

So far, it’s been crickets from the Biden administration. That has O’Rourke out job hunting and he’s eyeing the governor’s mansion in Austin and a challenge to incumbent Republican and Second Amendment advocate Gov. Greg Abbott who during his State of the State address said,

“Last session, I signed 10 laws to protect gun rights in Texas. In this session, we need to erect a complete barrier against any government official anywhere from treading on gun rights in Texas. Texas must be a Second Amendment sanctuary state.”

Lone Star State Landscape

If O’Rourke is in fact considering a run for governor in Texas, he shouldn’t be surprised by a third straight loss. Gun control groups like Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action, and Giffords, as well as failed presidential candidate billionaire Michael Bloomberg, all spent millions to flip legislative seats for gun control, with a focus on winning Texas. Those seats never flipped and it’s no surprise why.

Through 2020, Americans voted for their Second Amendment rights by purchasing guns in historically high numbers. They saw community violence, rioting, and calls to “defund the police” – including by O’Rourke – and chose to exercise their inherent right to self-defense and to keep and bear arms. In 2020, more than 21 million background checks for the sale of a firearm were run by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Checks System (NICS). That includes over 8.4 million first-time buyers. It’s not slowing down, either. More than 2 million checks were run in January of 2021.

O’Rourke’s backing for gun bans and buybacks won’t bode well for him on the Texas ballot.


About The National Shooting Sports Foundation

NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org

National Shooting Sports Foundation

24 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
SEMPAI

Used to say the same thing in the used to be great state of Virginia, put Northam in and now look at em. Too many yankees and liberals moving south bringing their political B.S. ideas with them. I’m in Florida and we have over a 1000 coming here EVERYDAY

Winchester1873

Beto, Bozo… the most useless person in Texas.

GomeznSA

Win – he is certainly near the bottom of the useless pile but you have to consider some of the other ‘stellar’ dems he is competing with – like sheilajacksonlee, algreen and wendydavis just to name a few.

linkman

O’Rourke committed political suicide with that single sentence on the debate stage. Gutsy move, but it totally backfired. Texans aren’t going to forget it.

GomeznSA

link – there was nothing ‘gutsy’ about his comment – it was exactly what he believed and would do anything to accomplish. Remember what his most notable (and ONLY) accomplishment was while he was in CONgress – he managed to get a post office named.

Montana454Casull

Beto is a turd that needs flushed . He is like a barking spider . Somebody needs to step on him . The sooner Robert Francis O Dork goes away the better . He is a typical communist clown that needs a sock stuffed in his foolish mouth and duck taped. NO he is not going to take anybodies AR15 he is just going to flap his lips and sound ignorant ! Typical communist Democrat !

JRUSMC0311

The man is a complete buffoon.

ChootEm

Texas kicked Butthead O’Rourke to the curb once, we’ll do it again.

Laddyboy

Francis needs to go home to his RICH supportive wife and CLEAN HIS OWN EYES. I hope and pray the People of Texas understand where this DemoKKKrat National KOMMUNIST needs to go. PLEASE do not allow him into ANY Political Office.

Stag

Thousands of idiots just like him have ran and won.

JSNMGC

His margin of loss against one of the smartest, well-informed, best debaters was 2.6%. If just 1.35% of the voters voted for Robert Francis instead of Cruz, Cruz would have lost.

RetUSAF

You have to many liberal morons moving in from places like California. If it keeps up, Texas will be like California or Virginia.

JSNMGC

I agree. The fact that Republican politicians failed to address birthright citizenship in 2017 and 2018 is also a major contributing factor to a shift in Texas politics.

JSNMGC

Stag is correct. Some of those politicians were elected in the state of Texas. I’m not attacking Texans, it’s just a fact.

Cruiser

NO NO BETO.

uncle dudley

California is the place he should run for governor, he would fit right in with the rest of the anti-gunners.

Bruce

We have enough scumbag losers here in the once great state of California. Let us be an example to the rest of the states of what can happen once the commie socialist termites get in.

Rich

The country club drunk….Betoff doesn’t have a chance in T. His entire view of Texas is Austin…..

StLPro2A

Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke”………aka Butto O’Dork. There fixed it for you. You’re welcome.

hoss

After what happened in the pres. election we best not count that CRB out. The fraud carries a long way, especially since they seem to have gotten away with it once.

Get Out

Good, O’Rourke needs to run again and spend all of his anti-gun money campaigning and then get kicked to the curb again.

Get Out

Yeah, and legitimate election-fraud cases will be rolling in any day now!

archmark

I fully agree that “Beto” is a Libtard wingnut loser but Abbott the RINO has pissed off a large majority of the state’s citizens with his draconian COVID lockdown orders and his usurpation of law and rule making powers from the legislature during the pandemic. So don’t count “Beto” out if he does decide to run against Abbott the RINO for the governorship. With the “blueberry” population centers of DFW, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and the Rio Grande valley, “Beto” has a damn good chance of beating Abbott the RINO for governor. I’d say that his 3% deficit to Ted… Read more »

JSNMGC

Paxton hates capitalism and free markets and wants a more powerful government to plan the economy in a manner that always fails.