Beto O'Rourke has branded a man who laughed as he spoke about the horrific Uvalde school shooting a 'motherf***er'.
The Democrat candidate for Texas governor was addressing a crowd on the subject of gun violence in the US when a man laughed.
O'Rourke had been speaking about the school shooting at Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were shot dead.
During the speech, O'Rourke told the crowd that the Uvalde shooter had legally purchased an assault rifle which he used in the horrific shooting and questioned why anyone not living in a warzone would need one.
The candidate spoke of how 19 children and two teachers had been 'shot to death with a weapon originally designed for use in combat'.
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He stressed that the weapons used in the Uvalde shooting had been 'legally purchased by an 18-year-old' who 'followed the law that's on the books' in obtaining the deadly weapon.
As the politician was describing how the weapon of war had been used to shoot children at point-blank range, a man was heard to laugh, prompting O'Rourke to turn around and say: "It may be funny to you motherf***er but it's not funny to me."
Immediately almost the entire room got to their feet and erupted with applause for the politician's comeback.
It's rare to see a politician call a member of the public a 'motherf***er', let alone have it be the cause for mass applause, but sometimes the situation calls for direct language.
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After calling the laughing man a 'motherf***er', O'Rourke returned to his speech calling for greater gun control to tackle the mass shootings plaguing the US.
After the speech he took to social media to promise that if he became governor he would work with the families of the Uvalde victims to take action against gun violence.
He said there was 'nothing more serious' than securing justice for those who had lost loved ones in the tragic shooting and said his objective in office would be 'stopping this from ever happening again'.
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O'Rourke has been an outspoken advocate of tighter gun controls, and interrupted Texas governor Greg Abbott's press conference in the wake of the Uvalde shooting to accuse him of 'doing nothing'.
Abbott, a Republican who has governed Texas since 2015, blames the mass shooting where 21 people were killed on mental health rather than the shooter's ability to purchase and carry guns.
During his time in office, however, Abbott's administration has slashed millions from the budget providing support to people with mental health issues.
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In the 2021 State of Mental Health in America report Texas was ranked last out of all 50 states on overall access to mental health care.
Abbott was booed when he visited Robb elementary school to see the site of the Uvalde shooting.
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Topics: Greg Abbott, Texas, US News, Politics
Joe Harker