Delaware Sen. Chris Coons is worried that Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke dealt a setback to gun control efforts during Thursday's debate with his passionate statement against assault-style weapons. Making the case for his mandatory buyback program, O'Rourke explained the grim goal of weapons of war like an AR-15 or AK-47—it "shreds everything inside of your body because it was designed to do that so you would bleed to death on a battlefield." That's exactly what is happening to civilians in mass shootings, he explained, recounting the agony of an Odessa mother who watched her daughter "bleed to death over the course of an hour" because there weren't enough ambulances to handle the carnage inflicted by a mass shooter with a AR-15 a couple weeks ago. "Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47! We're not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore!" O'Rourke affirmed, delivering one of the biggest applause lines of the night.
It was just too much for Coons. "I frankly think that that clip will be played for years at 2nd Amendment rallies with organizations that try to scare people by saying, Democrats are coming for your guns," Coons told CNN Friday morning. "I don't think having our presidential candidates like Congressman O'Rourke did, say that we're going to try to take people's guns against their will is a wise political move." Coons instead made a plug for concentrating on passing a background checks bill through the Senate first.
Sure, let's pass it. But Coons is just 100% wrong about the politics of O'Rourke's statements. Instead of hurting the cause, O'Rourke is helping it. He's a presidential candidate aiming upward, not a senator trying to thread the needle of passing legislation. Moderates are always complaining that liberals are hurting the cause. Guess what? The further left the left goes, the more room the people in the middle have to maneuver. Instead of something like background checks seeming radical, it becomes among the most moderate of proposals. That helps its chances.
Here's the other thing: It never matters what Democrats say, the gun nuts are always hyping the idea that Democrats are coming for your guns. That's why gun sales were gangbusters during President Obama's entire tenure. The gun lobby spent all eight years creating hysteria over Obama coming for your guns. So, sorry, Coons, it doesn't matter what Democrats say anyway.
Final point: Beto's declaration spoke to the heart of most suburban women's fears—that's a swing vote that has increasingly moved in the direction of Democrats during Trump's tenure. In fact, suburban women in swing districts overwhelmingly favor congressional action to curb gun violence. So Beto's appeal undoubtedly helped the party with that demographic.
The gun enthusiasts clinging to mass people killers like AR-15s and AK-47s—the ones who will blare Beto's comments at Second Amendment rallies—are *never ever* voting for a Democrat. Never. Ever.
Beto is facilitating a conversation that needs to be had about the gusher of assault-style weapons in our communities, the incomprehensible damage those weapons can do, and what we can realistically do to try to limit the availability of those weapons of war to the civilian population. Hell yeah! Democrats and Americans need to think bigger not smaller on guns.