Texas-born presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has vowed that if elected, he will implement a mandatory buyback of firearms, meaning the Americans will have to sell their AR-15s and AK-47s. The promise has inflamed conservatives.

Former Texas Congressman, O’Rourke has made gun control a key issue in his 2020 platform, and has been one of the loudest public figures calling for tighter gun laws in the wake of Saturday’s mass shooting in Odessa, Texas. Asked on Saturday whether he would go as far as to confiscate guns from American citizens if elected president, O’Rourke made his position clear.

“I want to be really clear. That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” he told reporters.

Americans who own AR-15s and AK-47s will have to sell them to the government. We’re not going to allow them to stay on our streets, to show up in our communities, to be used against us.

I was asked how I'd address people's fears that we will take away their assault rifles.I want to be clear: That's exactly what we're going to do. Americans who own AR-15s and AK-47s will have to sell their assault weapons. All of them. pic.twitter.com/YbnSsz3bVy — Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) September 2, 2019

Conservatives and gun owners were furious, and reposted the video on Twitter alongside outraged comments. “Democrats don’t even try to hide it anymore”fumed Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk. “They are coming for your guns.”

O’Rourke, however, doubled down and tweeted a link to the video himself on Monday, this time referring to the weapons in question as “assault weapons.”

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The use of the term is another murky technicality in the neverending gun control debate. ‘Assault weapons’ refers to weapons that can fire fully automatically, and such guns have been banned in the US since 1986. In more recent years, the media has taken to incorrectly branding semi-automatic rifles like the AR and AK variants as “assault rifles.”

Muddled or not, O’Rourke’s bold proclamation won some support. Democratic frontrunner Kamala Harris called the proposal a “great idea,” and promised executive action on gun control if elected. 2020 favorite Joe Biden has also promised to implement a mandatory buyback program.

Asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper if gun owners could take this to mean “a Biden administration...will come for my guns?” Biden replied“Bingo, you’re right if you have an assault weapon.”

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These are headline-grabbing soundbites, but whether gun-owners will force a Democratic administration pry their weapons from their “cold, dead hands” is a different and scarier one altogether.

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