Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) told reporters Wednesday that presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is “not taking my guns away from me.”
{mosads}Manchin told a Wall Street Journal reporter that the former Texas representative did not speak for all Democrats when vowing to complete mandatory buybacks for certain high-powered rifles.
“Beto’s one human being,” Manchin said, according to a Journal reporter. “He gave his own opinion, OK? I think it was very harmful to make it look like all the Democrats. I can tell you one thing: Beto O’Rourke’s not taking my guns away from me. You tell Beto that OK?”
However, Manchin’s office reportedly told NBC news the senator does not own an AR-style gun.
Manchin’s comments follow O’Rourke’s statements on gun control during the Democratic presidential debate on Thursday, when the candidate said, “Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.”
O’Rourke has made his support of stricter gun control a centerpiece of his campaign following a shooting in his hometown of El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 people.