Here is a thought: If you are going to advocate for the forcible confiscation of an estimated 16 million rifles from lawful American citizens, it is probably best not to do it against the backdrop of one of the most famous incidents of unarmed citizens being shot to death by government forces.

Looking at you, Beto O’Rourke.

The former Texas congressman, who is still running in the 2020 Democratic primary despite a lack of any sort of meaningful support, appeared at a campaign event Wednesday at Kent State University in Ohio. As O’Rourke spoke about his pet issue of gun control, demonstrators legally open-carrying firearms, including the style of rifle he believes should believe forcibly confiscated by the federal government, made their presence known.

"It is not enough to stop selling AR-15s and AK-47s when there are more than 10 million of those potential instruments of terror," the 2020 candidate said. "We must mandate that every one of them be bought back — back home, off the streets, out of our lives — no longer a threat to every single one of us."

O’Rourke then turned his attention to the protesters specifically, saying, "Nobody should show up with one of these weapons to seek to intimidate us in our own democracy. That's wrong. That's wrong."

His campaign said later on social media, “Yesterday, people brought assault weapons to our rally at Kent State — where 4 students were shot dead in 1970. I told them nobody should show up with an AK-47 or an AR-15 to seek to intimidate us in our own democracy. We need to buy back every single one of them.”

Yesterday, people brought assault weapons to our rally at Kent State—where 4 students were shot dead in 1970.



I told them nobody should show up with an AK-47 or an AR-15 to seek to intimidate us in our own democracy.



We need to buy back every single one of them. pic.twitter.com/U7N5fWUlvv — Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) September 26, 2019

As a reminder, this is what happened on Kent State’s campus 49 years ago, as told by the New York Times on May 5, 1970:

KENT, Ohio, May 4 — Four students at Kent State University, two of them women, were shot to death this afternoon by a volley of National Guard gun fire. At least 8 other students were wounded.



The burst of gunfire came about 20 minutes after the guardsmen broke up a noon rally on the Commons, a grassy campus gathering spot, by lobbing tear gas at a crowd of about 1,000 young people.

Highlighting one of the most high-profile examples of government forces killing unarmed citizens to advocate for the disarmament of citizens by government forces is probably not the smartest route for a gun control advocate to take. Just a thought.

The funny thing is: O’Rourke has a point about the abuse of open-carry laws. Responsible gun ownership involves educating fellow citizens about existing gun laws, safety, and best practices. Responsible gun-owners ought to challenge the perception that they are intimidating, maybe lawless, and possibly unhinged. They should be mindful and accommodating as well of those who are uncomfortable around firearms. That is a basic courtesy. Showing up to political rallies with the explicit purpose of flaunting firearms to make people uncomfortable is the opposite of all of that, and I say this as a lawful gun owner.

But O’Rourke could not even make these points. Instead, he used the Kent State massacre, of all things, to advocate for gun control.

And that, dear reader, is likely one of the reasons why the supposed reincarnation of John F. Kennedy is polling at only 2.5%, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average. He is just not very good at this. That and the fact that his platform still amounts to nothing more than: “Man, I'm just born to be in it."