2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke “has no idea what he’s talking about” when explaining his gun buyback proposal, Fox News contributor Johnny Joey Jones said Saturday.
O’Rourke had famously declared during a presidential debate that he would “take” AR-15s and AK-47s.
At a discussion with young voters in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday, O’Rourke seemingly stumbled after a teenaged hunter asked him about those who lived off of what they hunted with their guns.
“What about those people who use that as a way to, you know, get dinner, who live down south who don’t really have a lot of options for food, and they don’t have money but they can get their own?” the student asked.
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The student went on to explain that an AR-15 is “much more efficient” at killing an animal like a deer and how if a weaker gun is used, it could potentially put the animal through more pain, and its adrenaline can “spoil” the meat.
O’Rourke acknowledged that this was the “first time” he’s heard of anyone using an AR-15 to hunt a deer.
“Perhaps a way to address a legitimate concern or need is to ensure that those who have or want to use an AR-15 are able to keep it at a hunting club, or at a gun range. So, there is some control and safeguard still placed on that firearm,” Beto responded. “Ultimately, we’d take some action to save the lives of those who are being taken and then to protect against the kind of fear these acts of terror are inspiring.”
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Appearing on “Fox & Friends: Weekend” with hosts Ed Henry, Jedidiah Bila, and Pete Hegseth, Jones said that Beto should be “made fun of” for having no information or authority on the issue.
“I mean, that is almost a kid that just called him out on a very simple thing,” he said.
“I am a disabled hunter, right? Both my wrists are fused, my shoulders are fused, I need a pistol grip, and a semi-automatic gun to go hunt. Guess what that is? That’s an AR-15, an AR-10. That’s a military weapon of war, as he would call it,” he explained. “Which is really just a sporting rifle.”
“And, the truth is Beto doesn’t understand what he’s talking about but he needs…this flashpoint to try and stir controversy and get votes and it’s just not happening for him,” said Jones.
“Is he completely unaware that there are people around the country that utilize that weapon to protect themselves and their families?” Bila asked.
“Well, he’s not unaware. He just thinks that his best chance of getting people to support him right now is to have a controversial issue that he can get 49 percent of people to agree with,” he told the “Friends” couch.
Jones said that, while guns are in common use, they’re not in common use against each other.
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“And, in a country that’s free, that matters,” he added. “We don’t ban alcohol. We don’t ban things that can harm us just because they don’t save lives in hospitals. So, the idea that guns are used in self-defense, or hunting, or for sport, or as an ornament in my safe, those are all equally justifiable reasons that I should be able to own one…”
“And so, that’s not to say we should accept it, but we don’t fix it by simply banning something that’s so commonly used legally,” he concluded.
Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
