Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is the latest figure to challenge Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s joining up with Robert “Beto” O’Rourke as a potential gun control policy leader if Biden is elected.
In a recent video, Biden said O’Rourke would “take care of the gun problem with me” if he is elected. O’Rourke has previously advocated mandatory gun buybacks and law enforcement confiscation for popular semi-automatic firearms like the AR-15, leading some to fear that Biden could back similar efforts, though he has not stated such. In a Fox News appearance, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick voiced his own challenge to such gun control ideas.
“He [Beto] said he was coming to take our AR-15s,” Patrick told Fox News host Shannon Bream, referring to past comments by O’Rourke regarding confiscation. “I have one, I want to invite him to my house first and see how that goes.”
In a recent campaign video, Biden and O’Rourke shared a meal and the two discussed gun control.
“This guy can change the face of what we do with regard to guns, ‘assault weapons,’ in regard to dealing with climate change,” Biden said. “And I just want to warn [O’Rourke’s wife, Amy O’Rourke], if I win, I’m coming for him.”
During his Fox appearance, Patrick predicted O’Rourke’s gun control stance would become a liability for Biden’s campaign.
“Joe Biden says a lot of dopey things, you have a whole list of them and play them a lot,” Patrick told Bream. “The dumbest thing he has said is he’s going to put Beto O’Rourke in charge of getting our guns. I’m telling you, that just added two or three points to President Trump’s victory in November if it’s the ‘Biden and Beto Show’.”
Patrick compared himself to O’Rourke, as the two are surrogates for the Trump campaign and Biden campaign, respectively.
“What I say reflects not just on me in Texas but on the president – the president has good surrogates. You have to be on air all the time,” Patrick said. “When Biden surrounds himself with people like Beto O’Rourke, he’s taken on a real goofball, a guy who’s a real lightweight and he proved it in this race.”
Patrick is not the only one who has challenged Biden and O’Rourke’s renewed push towards gun control. In a viral Twitter video, Colorado Republican Rep. Ken Buck raised his own AR-15 and said, “If you want to take everyone’s AR-15s, why don’t you swing by my office in Washington, D.C. and start with this one?”
