California Congressman with 2020 presidential aspirations Eric Swalwell has confirmed he favored confiscating guns and even had a ‘nuclear’ take on what the government would do if it faced resistance.
In an op-ed published Thursday in USA Today, Swalwell (D-California) proposed a $15 billion buyback program for “assault weapons,” as well as criminal prosecution of anyone who chooses to keep their guns.
“So basically Swalwell wants a war. Because that’s what you would get,” airborne veteran and gun pundit Joe Biggs commented on Twitter – to which Swalwell replied that the government would win such a war, because it has atomic weapons.
“And it would be a short war my friend. The government has nukes. Too many of them. But they’re legit,” the congressman wrote.
“So our government would nuke its own country in order to take guns? Wow,” Biggs shot back.
Conservatives, gun rights advocates and veterans chimed in, bashing Swalwell for what they saw as a willingness to use nuclear weapons against Americans in the name of gun control.
Some even pointed out that the loyalty of the military should not be assumed in such a scenario.
Swalwell’s defenders were quick to defend him, explaining that what he really meant was that –contrary to what the Second Amendment says– guns were useless as a form of protection against government tyranny, since the government had nuclear weapons. The congressman himself tried to reframe his comment as sarcasm.
A Marine bomb technician responded with some sarcasm of his own.
The California congressman isn’t hiding that he is calling for a gun confiscation program modeled after Australia, which in 1996 outlawed long guns and rounded up over 660,000 weapons. Most recent research indicates that American civilians own approximately 393 million guns.
Swalwell, who was just re-elected to a second term representing California’s 15th district, located in the San Francisco Bay area, gained fame as one of the more outspoken Democrat advocates of the “Trump colluded with Russia” conspiracy theory.
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