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Beto O'Rourke: “Eight people died in Midland, Odessa because we didn't have…”

Featuring: Beto O'Rourke, Democratic | Former Candidate, Governor of Texas

Is Texas Still a Democracy? with Beto O’Rourke

Published August 13, 2025 | Video Starts at 42:54

But in Texas, you can buy that same weapon out of the trunk of someone's car in a person to person sale and there's no check whatsoever. Eight people died in Midland, Odessa because we didn't have a background check. On every single one of those, I get consent from everybody in the room. Now why is that not reflected in the leadership in Austin, Texas? (42:54–42:58)

CLAIM

Asserts that the absence of background checks contributed to a mass shooting in Midland, Odessa.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Beto O'Rourke

“Young voter turnout up 513%.”
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“It's the largest binational community in the Western Hemisphere, maybe the largest binational community in the world.”
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“By the numbers, it's one of the safest cities in America. Some years it was, bar none, the safest city in the United States of America.”
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“Entry into this country, illegal entry into this country is at an all-time low.”
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“In Texas, you can't use your student ID at the University of Texas at Austin to prove who you are at the polling place, but you can use your…”
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“Texas leads the nation in school shootings.”
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“That weapon [AR-15] was originally designed for use on the battlefields in Vietnam to penetrate an enemy soldier's helmet at 500ft.”
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“We took no PAC money and, and not corporate PAC money, but also not liberal PAC money, no Planned Parenthood, no Sierra Club, just, just…”
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“We went to each of the 254 counties of Texas.”
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“We won more votes than any Democrat, first since LBJ in 1964, to win the five major urban areas and their surrounding counties.”
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“We got within two and a half points of Ted Cruz.”
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“12 insurgent Democrats defeated 12 incumbent Republicans for the state House.”
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“Two Democrats defeated two incumbents, incumbent entrenched, well funded Republicans for the United States Congress.”
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“In Houston, Texas, the most diverse City In America, 17 black women won election to judicial positions.”
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“In 2018, I won the votes of those cast by people born in Texas.”
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“Ted Cruz beat me with people who had moved to our state from California and other places.”
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“In 22, I was taken on Greg Abbott, who outspent me nearly 2 to 1.”
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“Ken Paxton is the Attorney General for the state of Texas. He has been indicted twice under active FBI investigation.”
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“He [Mandani] meets the needs of those that he wants to serve clearly with well-defined policy positions.”
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“He was impeached by the state legislature for alleged crimes that he had committed.”
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“A state legislature dominated by Republicans of his own party.”
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“He is deeply popular with the most extreme magasite side of the Republican base in Texas.”
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“His effort to incite an insurrection against the country's government in which he serves to try to overturn a lawfully, fairly…”
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“The previous administration and their Department of Justice didn't prosecute those, like Donald Trump or like Ted Cruz, who are responsible…”
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“Donald Trump, once he is in office, pardoned each and every single one of them, including the ones, especially the ones who beat those cops…”
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“El Paso is pretty geographically and politically isolated from the rest of the country.”
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“It's safe not in spite of the fact that we are a city full of immigrants. It's safe because we are a city full of immigrants.”
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“There's a correlation between immigrants making our communities better, stronger, and, yes, safer as well.”
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“ICE was already going into our communities with plain clothes, masked agents sweeping people off the street without badges or warrants.”
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“Illegally detaining, imprisoning, in many cases, deporting people, in some cases to a gulag in El Salvador notorious for torture and…”
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“They're having a hard time finding enough immigrants to deport in these big sweeps through American cities.”
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“I'd also remind folks that this stuff is deeply unpopular on immigration, arguably Trump's signature policy issue.”
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“It's legal. Doesn't make it right. But they're essentially, this is a process by which members of Congress get to choose their Voters…”
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“He literally ordered Greg Abbott and Texas Republicans there find me five new Republican seats.”
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“This is done through computers, not through people to maximize partisan advantage for one party.”
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“Republicans fear that [voters under the age of 30] will lose that power.”
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“One Dropbox. In. In that, that rule, that law was imposed by the governor and the state legislature in the middle of COVID a pandemic that…”
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“23 people in my community had just been killed because it is perfectly legal in this country to buy an AK47.”
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“This 18 year old who just turned 18 bought an AR15 and took it into an elementary school and shot kids in the face and killed them.”
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“You have to pass a background check if you buy from a federally licensed gun shop.”
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“In Texas, you can buy that same weapon out of the trunk of someone's car in a person-to-person sale and there's no check whatsoever.”
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“You could buy two or more if you want to, AR15s, hundreds of rounds of ammunition.”
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“Democrats are always reactive and on the defense against Donald Trump.”
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“Gavin Newsom and his idea of redistricting... may be a harbinger of some offense that we're going to start playing.”
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