The National Rifle Association (NRA) called Democratic presidential hopeful and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) the “salesman of the month” after an Arizona gun store capitalized on his proposed mandatory buyback of assault weapons.
Alpha Dog Guns in Tempe, Ariz., announced that just four hours after launching a promotional discount called the “Beto Special” — spurred by O’Rourke’s now-viral comments about his buyback proposal — it sold out of AR-15s and other rifles, owner Matt Boggs said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.”
{mosads}The NRA tweeted a photo made to mock the former congressman by calling him the “AR-15 salesman of the month,” adding the caption: “Possibly even of the year.”
Boggs told Fox & Friends that the strategy didn’t mean to “be a political statement by any stretch of the imagination.”
“I just happened to hop on Facebook and see his comments, and I was like, ‘Well maybe I’ll sell 20 rifles and see what happens,’” he said.
O’Rourke made headlines last week for defending his proposed mandatory buyback program during the third round of Democratic presidential primary debates.
“I am, if it’s a weapon that’s designed to kill people on a battlefield. If the high-impact, high-velocity round shreds everything inside of your body … when we see that being used against children,” O’Rourke said, asked if he was proposing a mandatory government buyback of certain guns.
He continued: “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore,” prompting cheers and applause from the audience.
A number of Democrats have come out in opposition to O’Rourke’s proposal, with Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday telling reporters that he doesn’t “know of any other Democrat who agrees” with O’Rourke’s proposal to confiscate assault-style weapons.