Infantile behavior and misinformation rule the day as usual over at the White Couch on Fox News when it comes to Beto's pronouncement on assault rifles.
September 14, 2019

Fox's Outnumbered panel had a pout-fest about Beto O'Rourke's big moment in the Democratic Debate when he told the American public he was more than willing to take away their guns if they were designed for the battlefield. You'd have thought the women on the couch were being told he was taking away their blankies and their botox.

Katie Pavlich was the worst, citing O'Rourke's "criminal record" as disqualifying him to determine gun policy. (Hmmm...how does she feel about the number of Trump associates and former employees under indictment or in jail? Or the Orange One himself being an unindicted co-conspirator in SDNY crimes?) She kept trying to say buyback programs were "confiscation," which they are not, but since when did facts matter? She tried to quibble with the language because the government weren't the first ones to OWN the guns, so they can't buy them BACK.

OH GOOD ONE KATIE, BOY YOU REALLY GOT US ON THAT, COLUMBO

Regardless, she kept trying to "catch" the one person speaking sense on this and other gun control measures (Juan Williams) by asking him for specific definitions of gun terms, and when he answered — correctly — she was pissed he actually knew what he was talking about.

KATIE: Well, I find it interesting that Beto O'Rourke, who has a criminal record, is lecturing America about what kind of firearms they should have. He's using incorrect terminology, fundraising off this and he's making this claim that this is a buyback from the government. So, first of all, Americans don't buy firearms from the government, so, it is not buyback. They buy them from licensed dealers, they get from family and friends or through passing them down generationally through the family. It is not going to be a buyback because the government never owned them in the first place. He is proposing to criminalize Americans, upward of 20 million Americans for something they legally purchased through the legal system, through the lawful system, they own legally and lawfully and turning them into criminals overnight and saying, "Yes, we will take away something that is owned by you privately and you legally purchased.
[...]
A new ban on assault weapons, which are really semiautomatic rifles, won't do anything to reduce crime in this country, the Clinton-era law did not. One more thing on what President Trump may do, everyone keeps saying we have to do something, but there are actually consequences for doing something that doesn't work or has unintended consequences on the other end of this issue, so they have to be very careful about implementing policies that doesn't address the real issues they are talking about.

JUAN: let's be clear, you are making it out like, "Oh, this is so radical." The buyback...

KATIE: There's no such thing as a buyback.

JUAN: Yes, there is. We have seen this in other countries and it has worked.

KATIE: It hasn't, actually.

JUAN: The key point I would make to you, Republicans and Democrats support background checks, red flag laws, closing loopholes at gun shows and the like.

KATIE: What is the loophole, Juan?

JUAN: You don't have to register, you don't have to say you purchased this weapon, so that we don't know you have this weapon. In all cases, the majority of American people side with Beto O'Rourke, even on something like assault weapons, in terms --

KATIE: What is an assault weapon?

JUAN: Having high magazine ability, therefore the ability to be a mass shooter.

KATIE: What is an assault weapon, Juan?

JUAN: You know this, you are gun owner and NRA owner, I'm not.

KENNEDY: She also knows that's a subjective made-up distinction and the umbrella of assault weapon is growing vastly that any semi-automatic weapon is going to be --

JUAN: Kennedy, last night --

KENNEDY: By the way, mandatory buyback is not a buyback, it's confiscation.

JUAN: It is not mandatory.

KENNEDY: That is what he said. That is confiscation.

JUAN: When Beto O'Rourke spoke about the kind of bullet that would go into a little girl and tear up her organs.

KATIE: Yes, that is horrible.

JUAN: And suggest the ambulances can't get there, cops get there in less than a minute, and it is not enough time? I think lots of people say, you know, something's wrong with this. Too many guns.

What are these consequences Katie is so afraid of? What is she warning will happen "on the other side" of gun reform? Is it something like gun owners turning their guns on legislators? Like Texas Rep. Briscoe Cain threatened to do to Beto? Maybe the consequence would be fewer guns at the disposal of white supremacists like him and Tomi Lahren, who threatened to use her weapons against people seeking asylum.

Way to prove O'Rourke's point.

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