A Texas state representative has been reported to the FBI after he tweeted a remark Thursday about assault weapons to presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke.
"My AR is ready for you Robert Francis," Texas Rep. Briscoe Cain, R, tweeted after O'Rourke answered a question posed to him at the Democratic presidential debate about a buyback of assault rifles.
O’Rourke answered the question by explaining that assault rifles were developed for combat and “shreds everything inside your body because it was designed to do that so that you would bleed to death on a battlefield, not be able to get up and kill one of our soldiers.”
“When we see that being used against children, hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47," he said.
According to an O'Rourke spokesman, his campaign reported Cain's post to the FBI. The tweet was deleted by Friday morning.
After the debate, O'Rourke fired back at Cain via Twitter, calling his tweet a "death threat."
This is a death threat, Representative. Clearly, you shouldn't own an AR-15—and neither should anyone else. pic.twitter.com/jsiZmwjMDs
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) September 13, 2019
The back and forth didn't end there. Cain posted another tweet calling O'Rourke "a child."
O'Rourke has become more vocal about gun control legislation following the mass shooting that left 22 dead at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, his hometown.
His comments Thursday night about assault rifles came after he was asked if his mandatory buyback plan was tantamount to the federal government taking away people’s guns.
Hell yeah, we're going to take your AR-15. If it's a weapon that was designed to kill people on the battlefield, we're going to buy it back. pic.twitter.com/cCEWkG6y0X
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) September 13, 2019
O’Rourke told reporters after the debate that he thought Cain’s tweet was “a really irresponsible thing for him to do especially somebody who is a public servant and in a position of public trust to be sending that kind of message.”
Cain was elected to the Texas House in 2016. According to The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he is known for being a proponent of the Second Amendment and was escorted out the 2018 Texas Democratic Party convention after he showed up with what appeared to be a sidearm. Before he was asked to leave, he started handing out yard signs for conventiongoers that read, "This home is a gun-free safe space."
Cox Media Group
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