Twitter takes down Texas GOP lawmaker’s AR tweet about O’Rourke

Twitter took down a tweet from a Republican state lawmaker in Texas who wrote that his “AR is ready” for former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), the Democratic presidential candidate who at Thursday night’s debate said, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15s.”

Twitter told The Hill the tweet from Texas state Rep. Briscoe Cain violated its rules against making violent threats and that it had removed the tweet on Friday morning.

{mosads}“The Tweet was in violation of the Twitter Rules, which prohibit violent threats,” a Twitter spokesperson said.

After the debate, Cain tweeted, “My AR is ready for you Robert Francis.”

O’Rourke’s birth name is Robert Francis O’Rourke.

Cain’s tweet came in response to another post shared from O’Rourke’s account on Thursday that quoted the remark he made during the debate in Houston.

O’Rourke responded by calling Cain’s tweet a “death threat.”

“Clearly, you shouldn’t own an AR-15—and neither should anyone else,” O’Rourke added.

Cain tweeted in response to O’Rourke, calling the Democratic presidential hopeful “a child.”

You’re a child Robert Francis https://t.co/rU3WoYQFQV

— (@BriscoeCain) September 13, 2019

In an interview with CNN after the debate, O’Rourke praised Twitter for taking down the tweet from someone “with a weapon of war threatening to use it against somebody who is talking about gun violence in this country.”

GOP Texas state Rep. Briscoe Cain tweeted at Beto O’Rourke saying, “My AR is ready for you Robert Francis,” in response to O’Rourke’s mandatory gun buyback proposal.

Cain’s tweet was removed by Twitter. “Cain is making the case that no one should have an AR-15,” O’Rourke says pic.twitter.com/Sa1dARLKy6

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 13, 2019

A spokesperson for O’Rourke said that his campaign reported the post to the FBI.

“Anytime you have somebody threatening to use violence against somebody in this country to resolve a political issue — or really for any reason — that’s a matter for law enforcement,” O’Rourke said.

The Hill has reached out to Cain for comment.