Washington (CNN) Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke said Thursday that both Democrats and Republicans are to blame for "inaction and indifference" on passing gun control legislation.

"The level of inaction and indifference, and we can't just blame one political party for this," the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate said at a roundtable on gun control held in Des Moines, Iowa. "Democrats have had control of every level of power within recent history and did not avail themselves of it to address these issues."

"It's got to defy party division, lines of race, geography. This is something that afflicts all of us in this country," the Texas Democrat added.

O'Rourke recently returned to the campaign trail after 12 days in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, following a shooting when a gunman, who police say had posted a screed online that warned of a "Hispanic invasion," killed 22 people at a Walmart. Since then, O'Rourke has sought to reorient his campaign around confronting what he has described as President Donald Trump's racist attacks on minority communities. O'Rourke is linking gun violence and hate speech, and is also proposing steps aimed at combating "white supremacy, racism and domestic terrorism."

In the wake of the shooting, O'Rourke has also called for the creation of a nationwide gun licensing system, with states allowed to create their own versions or use the federal system, as well as a national registry of all guns that are purchased.