O'Rourke, who has attempted to use the Uvalde, Texas school shooting to jumpstart his gubernatorial campaign, has often changed his gun control position throughout his various bids for office.
Most recently, O'Rourke's campaign quietly edited his website's section on "gun safety," altering a call to "reduce" the number of AR-15s into an announcement that no civilian should hold the weapon.
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The Internet Archives' Wayback Machine reveals that as recently as April 1, the "Gun safety" page contained a section that stated: "And while it might not be the easy or politically safe thing to say, I strongly believe that we need to reduce the number of AR-15’s and AK-47’s on our streets."
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Sometime since April 1 (the most recent date archived), the campaign edited the section to announce: "And while it might not be the easy or politically safe thing to say, I don't believe any civilian should own an AR-15 or AK-47."
O'Rourke had beforehand dialed back his aggressiveness on gun control after falling behind incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in the polls.
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When running for president in 2019, O'Rourke showed support for banning the sale of AR-15s and seizing the guns from current owners, stating: "Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15." O'Rourke stood by that position as recently as November 2021.
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Yet in February, O'Rourke took a more moderate stance. "I’m not interested in taking anything from anyone. What I want to make sure that we do is defend the Second Amendment. I want to make sure that we protect our fellow Texans far better than we’re doing right now," he explained to reporters.
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O'Rourke's 2019 position was a departure from what he announced in 2018 while running against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.
"We support the Second Amendment, if you own a gun keep that gun," O'Rourke stated in 2018. "No one wants to take it away from you, at least I don’t."
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While O'Rourke has ramped up his rhetoric after the Uvalde shooting, stating that no civilian "should" own an AR-15, he hasn't said whether he would attempt to ban the weapons in Texas if elected governor.
His campaign didn't return an email seeking clarity on the candidate's position.
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Meanwhile, O’Rourke’s emotional outburst throughout Wednesday’s press conference on the Uvalde School shooting has attracted conflicting reactions from either side of the aisle even as he seemed to shift his own view, again, in the aftermath.
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O’Rourke interrupted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s press conference, telling the state leadership that they "are doing nothing." Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin replied by calling O’Rourke a "sick son of a b---h" before the latter was escorted out of the auditorium.
His actions have drawn accusations of political theater as well as praise – depending on which side of the aisle you stand on. The Wall Street Journal editorial board labeled the act a "stunt that could make or break his campaign."
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