During an April 2018 interview on The Chad Hasty Show, Democrat presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke claimed people who own AR-15s ought to be able to keep them.

That is a far cry from his September 12, 2019, declaration, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15.”

Fox News quoted an exchange between O’Rourke’s and Hasty that began with the host saying, “I own an AR-15. A lot of our listeners out there own AR-15s. Why should they not have one?”

“To be clear, they should have them,” O’Rourke responded. “If you purchased that AR-15, if you own it, keep it.”

O’Rourke’s about-face, complete with talk of “mandatory” confiscation of firearms, is such a 180 degree shift that interview that host Chad Hasty took to Twitter over it:

Seems to be a little renewed interest in my interview with @BetoORourke from 2018 on @KFYO when he was running against @tedcruz. Last night O'Rourke said, "Hell yes" to taking your AR-15, but in 2018… https://t.co/q5NVwGo645 — Chad Hasty (@ChadHastyRadio) September 13, 2019

The National Shooting Sports Foundation confirms there are 16 million-plus privately owned AR-15s in the U.S.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.