Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke provided insight into how police would enforce his proposal for a government confiscation of AR-15s and AK-47s.

The Democratic presidential candidate told reporters he would impose a fine on AR-15 owners to "compel" them to follow the law and turn in their banned firearms. Owners who turn in the guns will then be compensated.

"We expect our fellow Americans to follow the law. If they do not, there would be a fine imposed to compel them to follow the law," O'Rourke said. "We've seen this implemented successfully in Australia, where you've seen a near 50% reduction in gun violence deaths in that country."

Question: what happens if people don’t sell their guns back to the govt....answer: pic.twitter.com/wGuXJlBZQG — Teresa Riley (@TeresaRFox4) September 15, 2019

O'Rourke has maintained he believes gun owners would follow the law and turn in the banned weapons because he said gun owners have come up to him on the campaign trail to say they would. He has also defended the proposal as constitutional.

"This is something that we’re able to do through the Commerce Clause and this is something that is not prevented from — wouldn’t prevent the United States from doing by the Second Amendment. So this is constitutionally sound," O'Rourke told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.

O'Rourke made headlines during the third Democratic debate on Thursday when he said, "Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47, we’re not going to allow it to be used on fellow Americans anymore." South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg said such language is "playing in the hands of Republicans."