‘Cooling Off Period,’ Ammo Limit, One-Gun-A-Month: Swalwell’s Extreme Plan
U.S.A.–-(Ammoland.com)- Using the National Rifle Association headquarters in Virginia for a background, Democrat California Congressman Eric Swalwell unleashed a rabidly anti-gun scheme portrayed by CBS News as “an extensive gun violence prevention plan” that reads like a gun control wish list.
Swalwell, who has suggested prosecuting gun owners who fail to turn in so-called “assault weapons” if they are banned, announced his proposal at a “big” rally that wasn’t; only about 20 people showed up, and a story in Townhall was headlined, “Only Thing Sadder Than Swalwell’s Gun Control Proposal? His ‘Rally’ Numbers Outside NRA’s Headquarters.”
Swalwell’s sweeping plan, published on his website and announced Monday, includes the following:
- Ban and “buy back” so-called “semi-automatic assault weapons” and prosecute those who don’t comply
- Implement background checks for all gun and ammunition purchases
- Create a federal licensing program for gun owners, requiring them to satisfactorily complete a training program with both written and practical exams, the same way most states do with cars and hunters.
- Require that all people or businesses selling more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition in a 30-day period be federally licensed in a program similar to the Federal Firearms Licensee system.
- Prohibit individuals from hoarding ammunition in quantities exceeding 200 rounds per caliber or gauge.
- Limit ammunition sales for individual purchasers to 200 rounds per 30-day period.
- Repeal the law that prohibits the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from consolidating and centralizing records relating to the acquisition of firearms maintained by federal firearms licensees.
- Ban and buy back bump stocks, large-capacity magazines that are capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, and silencers.
- Prohibit states from allowing teachers to be armed on campus.
- Require that liability insurance be purchased before a person can buy, trade, or otherwise receive a firearm, which is what states already require for automobiles.
And these are just the highlights. There is much more to Swalwell’s scheme, including limiting handgun sales to one per month.
He would also “Implement a 48-hour ‘cooling-off period’ for firearm purchases, establish “safe storage standards” and “mandate that all gun owners comply.”
His plan also calls for the resurrection of former-President Barack Obama’s executive action to prevent anyone receiving Social Security checks for mental illness or those “deemed unfit to handle their own financial affairs” from being allowed to purchase firearms.
Swalwell may have picked the wrong place to announce this gun control plan because it essentially validates everything the NRA and other gun rights organizations have been warning about for decades.
Several weeks ago, when he appeared on Fox News with Tucker Carlson, Swalwell was put on the spot to explain his anti-gun agenda. When Carlson challenged his logic about the proposed gun ban being nothing short of confiscation and turning law-abiding citizens into felons, Swalwell tried to dodge around the true implications by arguing that Americans, being law-abiding citizens, would simply comply.
Perhaps the most alarming thing about Swalwell’s sweeping gun control agenda is that none of the other Democrats now running for president has publicly rejected it. All the other Democrats now in the race, nearly two-dozen of them, have their own gun control proposals.
Indeed, not a single Democrat now running to challenge Donald Trump in 2020 has said anything about protecting the Second Amendment if he or she takes office.
Instead, Swalwell’s intentions appear clear cut by a statement on his website that suggests his goal is to discourage citizens from exercising their right to keep and bear arms.
“Ending gun violence,” the statement says, “means investing in more community-oriented police officers than patrol officers. It means investing in hope to prevent people from picking up a gun in the first place.”
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.