President Donald Trump blamed Democratic president candidate Beto O’Rourke for threatening the path to a bipartisan gun reform deal.
“Dummy Beto made it much harder to make a deal,” Trump tweeted. “Convinced many that Dems just want to take your guns away. Will continue forward!”
This is likely a reference to O’Rourke’s comments during the democratic debate where he voiced his support for a mandatory buyback program and said “hell yes we are going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.”
O’Rourke responded to the tweet saying, “The only thing stopping us from ending this epidemic is you & your cowardice. Do the right thing.”
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Trump’s tweet follows criticism from U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) who believes O’Rourke’s proposed gun policy ignited tension between the political parties.
Cornyn told reporters that O’Rourke “has thrown gasoline on this discussion, which had been proceeding along a pretty calm, logical and rational path.” He added, “Unfortunately I think he set back the debate a lot — maybe by not just years but decades,” Cornyn added.
Trump’s position on gun reform has wavered in the wake of several recent mass shootings. Politico reported that Trump decided not to support universal background checks, believing they will not work, but may still back “red-flag” laws, a type of limited background check legislation.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut, who is currently working on a bipartisan red flag bill with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), thinks Trump has not decided what his stance on gun control is.
He said that the White House “is divided and probably the president is divided in his own mind.”
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