'I still hold this view': Beto O'Rourke stands firm on 2019 presidential debate 'We're gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47' remarks

• Beto O'Rourke, who is running for governor of Texas, says he still stands by his remarks made during a 2019 presidential debate.
• During the debate, O'Rourke said, "we're gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47."

Former presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke said that he stands behind his "we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47" remark that he made in 2019.

O'Rouke made the comment during a presidential debate in response to a question about advocating a mandatory assault-weapon buyback program, as Insider previously reported.

"If it's a weapon that was designed to kill people on a battlefield ... Hell yes, we're gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47," O'Rourke said during the presidential debate.

In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, O'Rouke, who is running for Texas governor, doubled down on his stance: "I still hold this view."

"Look, we are a state that has a long, proud tradition of responsible gun ownership," he said."And most of us here in Texas do not want to see our friends, our family members, our neighbors shot up with these weapons of war."

O'Rourke said that some Texas residents have raised concerns about the permitless carry bill that state Gov. Greg Abbott signed in June, which the Dallas Morning News reported allows individuals 21 and over to carry a handgun without a license or training.

"We don't want extremism in our gun laws. We want to protect the Second Amendment, we want to protect the lives of our fellow Texans," O'Rourke said during the interview. "And I know when we come together and stop this divisive extremism that we see from Greg Abbott, we're going to be able to do that."

O'Rourke also responded to the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse who was charged with shooting two men and injuring another with an AR-15 style rifle at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, following the shooting of Jacob Blake last year.

During the trial, Rittenhouse argued that he was acting in self-defense. After his not guilty verdict, a gun rights organization said that it "will be awarding Kyle Rittenhouse with an AR-15 for his defense of gun rights in America."

"This entire tragedy makes the case that we should not allow our fellow Americans to own and use weapons that were originally designed for battlefield use," said O'Rourke. "That AR-15, that AK-47 has one single solitary purpose. And that is killing people as effectively, as efficiently, and as great of number in as little time as possible."