O’Rourke pitches sweeping gun reform plan
WASHINGTON— Beto O’Rourke released a sweeping gun control plan that is among the strictest proposed by any 2020Democratic contender on Friday, a day after he reset his presidential campaign, presenting himself as a candidate with renewed focus after a gunman armed with an assaultstyle rifle killed 22 people in his hometown of El Paso.
The proposal would ban assault-style guns and high-capacity magazines and force owners to sell them to the federal government, create a new gun licensing and registration system, and institute new background checks. O’Rourke is also proposing a federal red flag law allowing courts to temporarily restrict a person’s access to guns, generally at the request of a concerned family member
O’Rourke is also proposing creating task forces within federal agencies aimed specifically at investigating domestic terrorism. He says he would change laws to allow people to sue social media platforms that refuse to ban “hateful activity.”
O’Rourke is the latest Democrat to roll out a proposal targeting white supremacist violence, though his mandatory buyback program takes the gun control conversation further than most of the others have gone. He follows Julián Castro, who offered up his own plan to combat domestic terrorism earlier this month. The man charged with the El Paso shooting has been linked to a manifesto posted online at the time of the attack, in which he railed against a “Hispanic invasion of Texas,” echoing someof the phrases that President Donald Trump has used to describe the situation at the border.
O’Rourke’s proposal comes a day after he restarted his presidential campaign after spending nearly two weeks in El Paso. He said in an address Thursday that he plans to take a new approach, focusing on gun violence and racism and campaigning in places where he says Trump has been “terrorizing and terrifying our fellow Americans.” He was in Mississippi — where Immigrations and Customs Enforcement arrested nearly 700 undocumented workers earlier this month — on Friday.
“The terrorist attack on El Paso, fueled by the racist rhetoric of Donald Trump, was not only an attack on America, but an attack on the aspirational ideals of this nation,” O’Rourke said in a statement announcing his proposal. “Congress’ failure to act has resulted in a democracy that is unwilling to confront an epidemic of gun violence. It’s time for those in positions of public trust to stand up, tell the truth and offer bold solutions without fear of political ramifications so we can finally start making progress and saving lives.”
Under O’Rourke’s proposal, the federal government would use money raised on new taxes on gun makers to purchase them back from owners. Thosewho refuse to sell their banned assault-style weapons to the government would face fines. The government would also offer to purchase handguns from owners who want to sell them.
His proposal also creates a new gun licensing and registration program. People would have to be 21 to get a license and would have to complete a certified gun safety training course. They would have to renew licenses every five years. Guns would have to be registered in a federal registry and all new handguns would be micro stamped, allowing authorities to better trace guns used in crime.