Beto O’Rourke riding gun confiscation back into relevancy

Beto O’Rourke is ratcheting up his new emphasis on confiscating assault-style weapons and is taking a looser, more aggressive campaign style in order to push himself back into relevancy, even if it creates a liability for other Democrats.

“Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47, we’re not going to allow it to be used on fellow Americans anymore,” O’Rourke, 46, said during Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate in Houston.

The candidate, mired in the low single digits, frequently cites the early August mass shooting that left 22 dead in El Paso, his hometown.

O’Rourke long resisted calling for confiscation of AR-15 rifles and implementing a federal firearm licensing program, but he now calls for both. While he pledged early in his campaign to refrain from swearing, he now freely drops F-bombs on the campaign trail.