El Paso native Beto O'Rourke reacts to mass shooting
Democratic presidential candidate chokes back tears as he addresses the media; Claudia Cowan reports from Las Vegas.
CNN failed to bleep out an F-bomb dropped by 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke on Sunday, after he became frustrated with what he sees as America's lack of action on gun control following Saturday's mass shooting in his home state of Texas.
O'Rourke appeared on "State of the Union" to discuss the shooting rampage that occurred in West Texas, which left seven dead, and 19 injured. The male suspect, who reportedly was in his 30s, was shot and killed by police.
"We're averaging about 300 mass shootings a year, no other country comes close -- so yes, this is f---ed up," he told CNN. "And if we don't call it out for what it is... then we will continue to have this kind of bloodshed in America."
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O'Rourke later tweeted out part of his comments from the CNN interview and dropped another F-bomb, as part of his recap.
"Thoughts and prayers have done nothing to stop the epidemic of gun violence. Yes, this is f--ked up; and if we don't call it out for what it is, we will continue to have this bloodshed in America," he repeated.
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He followed up with a second tweet an hour later, defending his use of foul language and said it's more profane for an infant to get shot, than for someone to curse on TV.
"Profanity is not the f-bomb. What is profane is a 17 month-old baby being shot in the face," he tweeted.
WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
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These weren't the only instances of profanity used by O'Rouke to express his feelings on gun control. Following the shooting on Saturday, he tweeted out a video of himself speaking to a group of people, using almost identical language to describe the tragedy.
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"We're not sure how many people have been shot -- don't know how many people have been killed ... don't know what the motivation is ... but we do know this is f---ed up," he said.
"We do know that this has to stop in this country. There is no reason that we have to accept this as our fortune, as our future, as our fate."
Fox News' Melissa Leon contributed to this report