Democrat presidental hopeful Eric Swalwell is pushing jail time for Americans who refuse to hand over their “assault weapons” under his proposed ban.
Swalwell appeared on the April 14, 2019, airing of CNN’s State of the Union, and Jake Tapper began the segment by reading a May 2018 quote from Swalwell, which said:
We should ban possession of military-style semiautomatic weapons, we should buy back such weapons from all who choose to abide by the law, and we should criminally prosecute any who choose to defy it by keeping their weapons.
Tapper then asked Swalwell if criminal prosecution means Americans who held on to their guns would go to jail. Swalwell responded, “They would.” He then added, “But I also offer them the alternative, which would be to keep them at a hunting club or a shooting range.”
Swalwell said he wants to get rid of “assaults weapons” not simply because of “the violence they have caused, but the immeasurable fear that our children live in because [‘assault weapons’] are still on our streets.” He stressed that he wants to pursue the kind of gun controls seen in New Zealand and Australia, prompting Tapper to point out that “the vast majority of gun-related deaths in this country are not related to these semiautomatic assault weapons.”
Tapper than suggested that Swalwell sounds like someone who wants to take people’s guns. Swalwell responded, “Keep your pistols, keep your long rifles, keep your shotguns. I want those most dangerous weapons, these weapons of war, out of the hands of the most dangerous people.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.