Politics

Democrat Joe Manchin: Beto O’Rourke Is ‘Not Taking My Guns Away From Me’

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Justin Caruso Contributor
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Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin told a reporter Wednesday that Beto O’Rourke was not going to take his guns away.

“Beto’s one human being. He gave his own opinion, OK? I think it was very harmful to make it look like all the Democrats. I can tell you one thing: [O’Rourke]’s not taking my guns away from me,” he told the Wall Street Journal’s Lindsay Wise.

“You tell Beto that OK?” Manchin added.

O’Rourke previously held a more moderate line on gun control and the Second Amendment, but in the last two months he has shifted radically to the left, endorsing the idea of mandatory gun buybacks for AR-15s and other weapons.

The Texas politician thinks that gun confiscation would work because Americans would simply comply.

“I don’t see the law enforcement going door to door. I see Americans complying with the law,” he said this month.

During the Democratic debate last month, he again promoted the idea of mandatory gun confiscation, saying, “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against a fellow American anymore.”

One Democratic strategist recently predicted that O’Rourke’s rhetoric on guns will hurt his potential future in politics. (RELATED: ‘That’s Exactly What We’re Going To Do’: Beto Confirms His Plan Includes A Gun-Grab)