Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O'Rourke said that his mandatory gun buyback program would include "criminal" consequences for people who do not turn over their firearms.
When asked if his plan would be "too retroactive" in its efforts to collect privately-owned weapons, O'Rourke said that he would enact a series of measures to punish people who attempt to keep their guns after a buyback.
"For anyone who does not and is caught in possession or seen in possession of one of these weapons of war, one of these instruments of terror, that weapon will be taken from them, and they will be fined," O'Rourke said at a Thursday night town hall. "And if they should persist in continuing to use and to buy these weapons, there will be other consequences in the criminal code."
O'Rourke's gun confiscation plan has drawn widespread criticism. Several police groups have ridiculed the candidate, calling his idea "asinine." The former Texas congressman has attempted to back off his original "hell yes" to mandatory buybacks by telling multiple news outlets that the program would only apply to AR-15s and AK-47s.
The left-leaning site PolitiFact rated O'Rourke's claim that he's not "talking about confiscating anybody's guns" false.