​WASHINGTON – Mayor Pete Buttigieg agreed that Beto O’Rourke was playing into the hands of Republicans when he told Thursday night’s Democratic debate crowd that he would “hell yes” take away their AR-15s and AK-47s.

“Yes,” Buttigieg answered when asked the question Sunday by CNN’s Jake Tapper. Tapper had pointed to criticism from Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) who said O’Rourke’s comments weren’t helpful and would be used to “scare people” at Second Amendment rallies for years.

Tapper had asked Buttigieg if he concurred.

Buttigieg​, the mayor of South Bend, Ind.,​ called this a “golden moment” to get something done on guns and urged lawmakers not to waste it.

“We have agreement among the American people not just for universal background checks, but we have a majority in favor of red flag laws, high capacity magazines, banning the new sale of assault weapons,” Buttigieg said.

He also pointed out, “We’ve been arguing about this for as long as I’ve been alive.” Buttigieg, at 37, is the youngest of the presidential hopefuls.

“When even this president, when even Mitch McConnell, are at least pretending to be open to reforms we know we have a moment on our hands,” Buttigieg added​, referring to the Senate majority leader​. “Let’s make the most of it and get these things done.”