This 1 Chart Destroys the Wild Gun Lies Eric Swalwell Spouted During Debate
California Rep. Eric Swalwell is one of the multitude of Democrats running for president, and he’s basically made his campaign a one-issue referendum on guns.
Swalwell, of course, is the man famous for proposing that so-called “assault weapons” be banned and rounded up; he also joked on Twitter that he would use the full brunt of the U.S. government, including nuclear weapons, on those who refused.
At Thursday night’s Democratic debate in Miami, Swalwell reiterated the fact that he doesn’t want to take all of weapons from Americans, just the “dangerous” ones.
“Keep your pistols, keep your rifles, keep your shotguns,” Swalwell said, as ABC News reported. “But we can take the most dangerous weapons from the most dangerous people.”
The line is similar to one he used in a town hall earlier this month.
“Keep your pistols. Keep your rifles. Keep your shotguns. We can ban and buyback the most dangerous weapons.” It’s time to take the most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous people. #SwalwellTownHall
— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) June 3, 2019
So, all right. What are the most dangerous weapons?
Well, as The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles pointed out, not the ones gun grabbers seem to think.
“Keep your pistols, keep your rifles, keep your shotguns. But we will take the most dangerous weapons.”
—@EricSwalwell, who doesn’t know that pistols are the most dangerous weapons#DemDebate #DemDebate2 pic.twitter.com/kNINYXOwH4
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) June 28, 2019
The “most dangerous weapons,” according to FBI crime data, are actually handguns.
This is the invariable problem in Swalwell’s argument — indeed, in any argument against modern sporting riles, which the left is fond of calling “assault weapons.”
No, they’re not the most dangerous sort of weapon. They don’t confer any sort of advantage in most mass shooting situations. In terms of ability to conceal a weapon, for instance, handguns definitely have an advantage over an AR-15 or a similar firearm.
Many Americans are afraid of the AR-15 because the media has made them afraid of it. It’s viewed as “scary.” That’s why some mass shooters — whose motive is almost always attention — use them. It’s not because they’re “the most dangerous weapons.”
What occurs next is a feedback loop. Shooters choose AR-15s because they’re perceived as scary. Many Americans then perceive AR-15s as scary because shooters use them.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
When banning weapons like the AR-15 doesn’t reduce shootings, you aren’t going to be able to keep your shotgun or pistol or rifle, at least not if people like Eric Swalwell are in charge. You’re going to have to give up something else.
More and more of our Second Amendment rights will be sacrificed on the pyre of liberalism.
This is the great lie about gun control, particularly when it comes to “assault weapons.” There’s no great danger, no real menace posed by these guns that would justify abridging fundamental rights that are guaranteed by the United States Constitution.
Yet, Eric Swalwell is going to say this over and over during the coming campaign. He is, for all intents and purposes, a one-trick pony.
The sad thing is that the media is more than willing to pay attention to that trick over and over again.
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