Texas politician Beto O’Rourke put a heckler in his place during a campaign stop yesterday (Aug. 10). The Democrat was speaking about gun control violence at Crazy Water Hotel in Mineral Wells, outside of Dallas, when someone in the crowd began to laugh. “It may be funny to you, motherf**ker, but it’s not funny to me,” he said.
At the time of the unexpected interruption, O’Rourke was discussing the May 24 deadly Uvalde mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. During that fatal tragedy, 19 children and two adults were shot and killed. Authorities named 18-year-old Salvador Ramos as the suspected gunman. “You could (legally) buy two, or more if you want to, AR-15s, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and take that weapon, that was originally designed for use on the battlefields in Vietnam to penetrate an enemy soldier’s helmet at 500 feet and knock him down dead, up against kids at five feet,” O’Rourke said during his speech.
BREAKING: Beto O’Rourke just DESTROYED a heckler who laughed out loud when he mentioned the tragic death of the 19 kids who died at Uvalde.
Without hesitation, Beto responded, "it may be funny to you motherfucker, but it's not funny to me."
Me neither, motherfucker!
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) August 11, 2022
It was then that a person attending his rally began to laugh. A video shows an emotional O’Rourke sternly addressing the person. Fred Guttenberg, who lost his child Jaime in the 2018 Parkland school shooting, tweeted his support for the politician. “Go @BetoORourke!!! This is how you respond when someone [laughs] loudly while discussing the mass shooting in Uvalde,” he said alongside footage of the exchange.
Go @BetoORourke!!!
This is how you respond when someone laugs loudly while discussing the mass shooting in Uvalde.
“It may be funny to you mother f*cker, but it’s not funny to me.”
pic.twitter.com/KhKM7o42ZZ— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) August 11, 2022
As O’Rourke went on, he said, “We’re going to make sure that our kids who are starting their school year right now, that they don’t have to worry about someone walking in to their school with a weapon like this.” He added, “I want to hear a round of applause for these Abbott supporters who are here. I’m glad that you all came.” The audience cheered him on as he continued: “Thank you for coming out. That’s not easy to do. But you’re welcome to join us and we’re glad that you’re here.”