We first reported on Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke’s about-face on coming for our AR-15s on Wednesday, but unfortunately not until after I’d already put together the daily Cam & Co podcast. So we’re revisiting the issue on today’s program, with RedState’s Brandon Morse joining me for a look (and a laugh) at O’Rourke’s fumbling and feeble attempts to publicly reset his position on the Second Amendment.

Morse, a Lone Star State voter himself, says he wasn’t surprised to see O’Rourke awkward pivot on possessing modern sporting rifles. In fact, he predicted it would happen when O’Rourke announced he was running for governor of Texas last fall, reasoning that no politician, regardless of party, stands a chance of winning statewide office if they’re on the record as being in favor of “coming and taking” lawfully-purchased firearms.

“I said he’s going to have to walk this back, and he’s not going to be able to,” Morse said with a smile. “The question that people should be asking themselves at this point in time is ‘Who is the real Beto O’Rourke? Who is it really?’ I’m gonna guess it’s probably a little bit closer to the national stage than the Texas Beto O’Rourke. I think the Texas Beto O’Rourke is a fake. He’s kind of proven that he’s a fake throughout his entire political career in one way or another. I think that he’s the leftist’s leftist at the end of the day; he wants to take your guns, raise your taxes, and basically just put as many regulations on the state as humanly possible.”

Morse also scoffs at O’Rourke’s claim that he wants to “defend the Second Amendment,” especially since the Democrat followed up that incredible statement by attacking Constitutional Carry, which took effect in the state last September. Once you’re on the record as saying “Hell yes we’re going to take your AR-15s,” it’s absolutely asinine to think that you could convince anyone that you’re really a stalwart supporter of the right to keep and bear arms, and Morse believes that O’Rourke’s campaign is doomed to defeat in part because Texans aren’t buying Beto’s bull.

Democrats and gun control groups would undoubtably prefer that the issue just fade away. Back in October, before O’Rourke formally announced his gubernatorial campaign, the Dallas Morning News looked at how his comments as a presidential candidate would play in his run for governor, and found that anti-gun activists in the Lone Star State seemed to be okay with the idea of a flip-flop.

Would violence prevention activists be disappointed if O’Rourke backs away from the “hell yes” promise?

“If somebody asked us to be the lead on confiscating guns — no, we wouldn’t,” said Gyl Switzer, executive director of Texas Gun Sense.

“Every solution should be on the table,” she said.

But realistically, she said, “if you’re taking the temperature of Texas when it comes to guns,” mandatory buybacks have no chance in Austin, where the GOP-controlled Legislature just delivered so many wins to the gun lobby, including permitless carry.

“We tend to talk about issues that will work in Texas. And I don’t think removing guns from anyone would be something that could happen in Texas,” she said.

It’s not something that could happen in the United States, which is one reason why Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke was a moron to declare that he’d do just that when he was running for president. Still, it’s amusing to me that the group most likely to give O’Rourke a pass for his supposed change of heart are the ones who were the most supportive of his original boast that he was coming for our guns. My guess is that they, like most other Texans, know where O’Rourke really stands on the issue, and it’s not in support of our Second Amendment rights.