Reiterated....

O’Rourke on mass shootings: ‘Yes, this is fucked up’

By AUBREE ELIZA WEAVER

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke reiterated his push for gun control legislation Sunday morning — less than 24 hours after another mass shooting in his home state of Texas, which left at least eight dead, including the shooter.

“The rhetoric that we’ve used — the thoughts and prayers that you just referred to — it has done nothing to stop the epidemic of gun violence to protect our kids, our families, our fellow Americans in public places — at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, where 22 were killed, in Sutherland Springs — in a church,” O’Rourke told CNN’s Dana Bash. “One or two a day all over this country; 100 killed daily in the United States of America. We’re averaging about 300 mass shootings a year. No other country comes close.

“So yes, this is fucked up,” he added. “If we don’t call it out for what it is, if we’re not able to speak clearly, if we’re not able to act decisively, then we will continue to have this kind of bloodshed in America, and I cannot accept that.”

Saturday afternoon, a man opened fire during a traffic stop in Midland, Texas, and continued to shoot at residents and motorists as he drove down the highway. The shooter then drove into Odessa, firing in a populated shopping area. The attack occurred less than a month after a shooting in El Paso, in which a gunman killed 22 people and wounded 24 others.

O’Rourke used similar language when speaking to voters during a campaign stop in Fairfax Station, Va., on Saturday afternoon, as the details about the shooting were still coming forward.

“Not sure how many gunmen. Not sure how many people have been shot. Don’t know how many people have been killed [or] the condition of those who have survived,” O’Rourke told his supporters. “Don’t know what the motivation is. Do not yet know the firearms that were used or how they acquired them."

"But we do know this is fucked up," he continued. "We do know that this has to stop in our country. There is no reason that we have to accept this as our fortune, as our future, as our fate.”

O’Rourke addressed the same topic along the same lines on CBS‘ “Face the Nation,” without, however, using the F-word. “We've got to follow the lead of those moms who demand action, the students who are marching for our lives who themselves have announced ambitious plans to ensure that we can protect one another and that our kids don't have to fear going to school or the future of this country,“ he said.

His campaign apparently saw some potential in his CNN tirade. New T-shirts were available for sale on his campaign site that had the words “This is Fucked up” six times in all caps, followed by “End gun violence now.”