Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke used his opening comments at the September 12, 2019, Democrat debate to blame the El Paso shooting on President Donald Trump.

O’Rourke pointed to the August 3, 2019, El Paso, shooting, cited racism and pinned the propagation of racism on Trump.

O’Rourke said, “22 people were killed and dozens more, grievously injured by a man…inspired to kill by our president.”

The shooter used an AK-47 variant which he purchased legally from a gun store, where background checks are required. But O’Rourke wants to ban such guns and reminded listeners of this during his opening comments by saying, “[The attacker was] carrying a weapon he should never have been able to buy in the first place.”

O’Rourke not only wants to ban AK-47s and AR-15s, and their variants, but also wants to put in place a government-mandated buyback of the firearms. This means owners would have to hand them in to authorities.

O’Rourke expresses confidence that Americans will comply and hand over their guns, thereby removing the need for police to go door-to-door to collect them.

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.