Beto O'Rourke says he does not regret saying he will take away AK-47s and AR-15s while running for president

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas, told comedian Hasan Minhaj on Wednesday that he does not regret saying during a 2019 presidential debate that he would "take away" Americans' AK-47s and AR-15s.

During a Democratic primary debate on ABC, O'Rourke made headlines with the following declaration: "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47, and we're not going to allow it to be used against your fellow Americans anymore." 

Three days later, O'Rourke appeared on NBC News' "Meet the Press," where then-host Chuck Todd pointed out that there was "a lot of hand-wringing" about the then-presidential contender's full-throated call for confiscating such rifles.

Appearing on the podcast "Hasan Minhaj Doesn't Know" on Wednesday, O'Rourke was asked whether he regretted making the "extremely unpopular" statement.

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"No," he told Minhaj. "We talked a little bit about this earlier, but you know, 23 people in my community had just been killed because it is perfectly legal in this country to buy an AK-47."

The former Texas representative argued that AK-47s were "designed and engineered for use on a battlefield," and that such weapons use "high-impact, high-velocity rounds" that are far more deadly than other ammunition.

O'Rourke also made the case for implementing red flag laws for firearms, claiming that they could have prevented the tragic mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in 2019.

"That shooter, when the gun came in, his mom called the cops in Allen, Texas, and said, 'Hey, I don't know what's going on. I don't think my son's okay. He just bought an AK-47. Can you help me?'" he explained. "And the cop said, 'Nothing we can do. Perfectly legal. You're on your own. Good luck and goodbye.'"

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"You know, some people may think my saying that is crazy. I think what is even crazier is that after what happened in El Paso, it happened again in Midland-Odessa in Texas. After it happened in Midland-Odessa, it happened in Uvalde."

Following the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022, O'Rourke gave a fiery speech about gun control after being escorted out of a news conference where he confronted Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, over the tragedy.

Minhaj asked O'Rourke whether his sentiment that day reflected the "median voter in Texas," or the "median comment" in his social media comment section, because "clearly, the people of Texas… don't want this change."

The former Texas representative did not directly answer Minhaj's question, but noted that he has been working on finding "common ground" with Republican voters in his state on the issue of gun control.

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Fox News' Talia Kaplan contributed to this report.