Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters about the possibility of a partial government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Beto O’Rourke’s gun confiscation plan and “Hell yes” comments from last week’s Democratic debate have been the talk of the Washington, DC media circuit and political commentators for the last week.

Many Democratic House and Senate members and candidates for president have been asked to weigh in on where they stand on what O’Rourke has proposed. Some oppose it on grounds the position will hurt the party in the future, while others support it, saying concerns about eroding the 2nd Amendment amount to nothing more than “far-right fearmongering.”

With all that in mind, you’d think that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) would have an idea just what stances his Democratic colleagues have taken on the issue in the event it is brought before the Senate floor for consideration in the near future.

The Times Union reports Schumer is claiming he doesn’t know of any Democrat who supports Beto’s plan:

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer pooh-poohed O’Rourke as unrepresentative of Democratic views.



“I don’t know of any other Democrat who agrees with Beto O’Rourke, but it’s no excuse not to go forward,” Schumer said on a conference call with upstate reporters.

Seriously? How … could he not know that there are two Senators currently running for president who have voiced support for Beto O’Rourke’s gun confiscation plan? Cory Booker (NJ) and Kamala Harris (CA) both have endorsed it. While Booker’s and Harris’ presidential campaigns are going nowhere fast, they both have been floated as vice presidential possibilities.

Both Senators have penchants for staging theatrics at politically opportune times, so I wouldn’t discount either of them putting forth some type of symbolic proposal in the Senate similar to what Beto has proposed, even though they know it wouldn’t have a chance of going anywhere.

And as I wrote over the weekend, there are a number of other presidential candidates including frontrunners Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) who have expressed a willingness to get the government involved in some sort of “buyback” program, though they’ve indicated their programs would be voluntary.

Failed presidential candidate and Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA) said over a year ago that gun owners should be forced to sell their “assault weapons” to the government. If the gun owners didn’t, Swalwell stated that “we should criminally prosecute any who choose to defy it by keeping their weapons.”

His position hasn’t changed:

Beto’s logic adds up: a “ban” on future assault weapons still leaves 15 million weapons of war on our streets. How do you answer to the family of a victim killed post-ban by a grand-fathered in AR-15? If they’re unsafe in the future, they’re unsafe now. So ban & buy them all. https://t.co/5FzDwayvRY — Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) September 15, 2019

There’s just no excuse for Schumer not knowing this information. Unless he’s lying.

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— Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter. –