The owner of an Arizona gun store says the "Beto Special" on AR-15 rifles he ran has resulted in an outpouring of support and positivity for the store.
Matt Boggs, who owns Alpha Dog Firearms in Tempe, appeared on Fox News Thursday morning to discuss the promotion that used Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke's name and his calls for gun control.
"A lot of the response we've gotten has just been really positive from the community," said Boggs, whose store sold all 200 AR-15s in its stock within hours of the promotion's launch. "We didn't really start this off to be a political statement by any stretch of the imagination. I just happened to hop on Facebook and see [O'Rourke's] comments, and I was just like, 'well, maybe I'll sell 20 rifles and see what happens.'"
During last week's Democratic presidential debate, O'Rourke said he would push for the confiscation of AR-15s and AK-47s in the wake of several mass shootings that have rattled the nation. Gun rights advocates, including Boggs, don't see that as a helpful solution.
"I don't know of anybody who owns an AR or an AK who is willing to actually give them up. You're giving up your Second Amendment right," Boggs said. "Our customers, the people that we've heard from, the people who have been emailing us, they have all just been like, 'you guys are doing a great thing.'
"I just really wanted to put something out there and I did not expect what we've gotten out of this. This has just been really awesome to see the support from the firearms community."
He added, "People are trying to find a simple solution for a very complex problem. … Making legal gun owners into criminals, that is not a solution."
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