In an announcement that should terrify supporters of the Second Amendment and the U.S. Constitution, the sudden Democrat frontrunner Joe Biden announced on Monday night that Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke would play the lead role in the Biden administration's efforts to fast-track gun control.  Before his campaign for the 2020 Democrat nomination collapsed last November 1, O'Rourke, when asked about gun control at a candidates' debate last September 12, said, "Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47."

One year ago, during an MSNBC interview on location at the border between the U.S. and Mexico, O'Rourke said that "if given the chance, he would take down the 600 miles of wall and fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, adding that it had only caused 'suffering and death' for asylum seekers."

According to The Hill:

"Yes. Absolutely. I'd take the wall down," O'Rourke said on "All In" during an interview near the border on Thursday.

Appearing live on Fox News on Tuesday evening during an interview with Shannon Bream, Texas lt. gov. Dan Patrick criticized Biden's embrace of O'Rourke, noting:

He [Beto] said he was coming to take our AR-15s. I have one, I want to invite him to my house first and see how that goes.

Joe Biden welcomes Beto O'Rourke to his team, Dallas, TX, March 2, 2020.
Selection from video of the occasion.

The occasion for Biden's comments about O'Rourke was a pre–Super Tuesday campaign rally Monday evening in Dallas during which O'Rourke endorsed Biden.  According to the New York Post, Biden, standing next to O'Rourke, said:

I want to make something clear, I'm going to guarantee you this is not the last you've seen of him [O'Rourke]. You're going to take care of the gun problem with me. You're going to be the one who leads this effort. I'm counting on you. I'm counting on you. We need you badly, the state needs you, the country needs you. You're the best.

The admission that Biden will be rewarding his former challenger O'Rourke with a high-profile job in his administration, presumably in exchange for his endorsement, makes one wonder what Biden will offer Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who also quit their campaigns for president and endorsed the former V.P. on Monday.

At Biden's campaign website is a 3,500-word document that outlines the candidate's extensive "plan to end our gun violence epidemic."

According to the article at Fox News about Lt. Gov. Patrick's interview with Bream:

Patrick predicted O'Rourke will become the "anchor" around Biden's neck if the former vice president closely associates himself with the controversial former Senate candidate.

Patrick went on to say:

When Biden surrounds himself with people like Beto O'Rourke, he's taken on a real goofball, a guy who's a real lightweight and he proved it in this race.

Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran journalist who writes about politics, media, popular culture, and health care for American Thinker and other publications.  Peter's website is http://peter.media.  His new YouTube channel is here.  Follow Peter on Twitter at @pchowka.