ORourke Calls For Mandatory Gun Buyback Licensing

(Politico) DAVID SIDERS 08/16/2019 07:00 AM Beto ORourke called Friday for gun licensing and a mandatory buyback program for assault weapons expanding on a controversial gun control platform he advanced in his return to the presidential campaign the previous day. Part of a proposal to address gun violence and white nationalism ORourke said that if enacted anyone who failed to forfeit a banned assault weapon would be fined. The mandatory buyback proposal goes further than most Democrats in the 2020 presidential field though Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has suggested she supports such a program. In addition to banning assault weapons and requiring their forfeiture ORourke said he would work to implement a voluntary buyback program for handguns. He proposed increasing the excise tax on gun manufacturers and fines on gun traffickers to fund buybacks. The proposal comes nearly two weeks after ORourke paused his campaign following a mass shooting at a Walmart in his hometown of El Paso Texas. The former congressman returned to the campaign on Thursday with a blistering speech blaming President Donald Trump for instigating acts of racism and violence. Im confident that if at this moment we do not wake up to this threat he said in a speech in El Paso then we as a country will die in our sleep."