Beto O’Rourke, who re-launched his floundering presidential campaign this week with a new focus on gun control, paid a visit to an Arkansas gun show on Saturday. While Beto said he “appreciated” hearing from gun owners and gun sellers, I think what he really appreciated was being able to use a gun show as a backdrop for his demand for a gun ban.

In Arkansas, I listened to gun owners and sellers—and appreciated hearing their perspectives. But as the plan we released yesterday says, if I’m president, you wouldn’t be able to buy weapons of war for $395. You wouldn’t be able to buy them at all. pic.twitter.com/Pz8KuFq9Tt

— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) August 17, 2019

As I said yesterday, Beto O’Rourke’s gun control plans are unserious solutions to a serious problem. Does he really think that if a ban on semi-automatic rifles is passed, no one would be able to buy them? Has Beto ever heard the term “black market”?

Beto’s on record calling for an end to the “failed war on drugs”, but apparently he wants to replace it with a war on guns instead. How would that “war” work out any better for Beto than the “new Jim Crow laws” that he says are putting young men of color behind bars for non-violent drug offenses?

It sounds like Beto didn’t have a good answer when gun owners posed similar questions to the candidate.

Larry Beaver, another attendee at the show and a self-described Republican Trump supporter, said he owns many firearms, including assault rifles.

“If you want votes, you’re not going to get them by talking about taking this away from people,” Beaver told O’Rourke. “People are going to find a way to kill people.”

Many press outlets quoted Beaver as saying he’s supportive of Beto’s plan to ban and “buy back” semi-automatic firearms, but as it turns out that support came with one heck of a caveat.

“I saw him walk by and said ‘wow what’s he doing here?” Beaver said as he recounted their conversation.

He even said he might be willing to support O’Rourke’s assault weapons buy-back plan — so long as he got a fair rate and “the rest of America takes a part in it” too.

That’s a big “if”, right there. Beto’s plan doesn’t just call for banning any firearm he deems an “assault weapon”, it would also ban and criminalize the continued possession of any magazine capable of holding more than ten rounds of ammunition. Similar bans in California and New Jersey have been met with massive non-compliance, and it seems likely that any sort of federal ban would meet with the same response.

O’Rourke told ABC News that he “learned something” by listening to Beaver, though I doubt he learned enough to change his mind or any of his proposals.

“We’re not going to get this done until we include everyone in this conversation,” O’Rourke said. “You’re never allowed to write anybody off because they’re a Republican, because they’re a gun seller, because they’re at a gun show.”

If Beto really believes that, I’d like to extend an invitation for him to visit Farmville, Virginia and sit down with me for an episode of Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co. to talk about his gun control agenda. Besides tough but fair questions on 2nd Amendment issues, I can offer him a photo-op with some adorable baby goats. Heck, I might even offer Beto some bacon made from the hogs we raised in our yard. I doubt he’ll come, but if he really wants to include everyone in the conversation, I’m happy to take him up on his offer.