Presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says she is in favor of a mandatory federal buyback of assault weapons. Moreover, if the owners of assault weapons don’t sell their firearm back to the government, they could be criminally prosecuted.
“I think we should ban assault weapons as well as large magazines, and as part of passing that ban, do a buyback program across the country so that those who own them can be … compensated for their money that they spent. But I think both of those ideas are strong,” Gillibrand told Poppy Harlow of CNN.
“You don’t want people to retain them because if you make them illegal, you don’t want to grandfather in all the assault weapons that are all across America,” Gillibrand said. “You would like people to sell them back to the government so that you can make sure people who shouldn’t have access to these weapons couldn’t have them.”
“The point is, you don’t want people using assault weapons, and so the point is if you are arrested for using an assault weapon, you’re going to have an aggravated felony,” she said. “I mean, the whole point is when you make it a crime to own an assault weapon, then if you are found using it, that would be the issue.”
According to supporters of the second amendment, the mandatory assault weapons buyback rhetoric is a dress up for gun confiscation.
Many Democrats endorse gun confiscation and have been speaking openly about it.
Other Democrats Pushing Mandatory Buybacks
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told Politico this month that he also supports a mandatory buyback program.
Sen. Corey Booker was asked about mandatory buyback and told CNN in May, “We should have a law that bans these weapons, and we should have a reasonable period in which people can turn in these weapons.”
Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California stated in a 2018 USA Today op-ed, “We should ban possession of military-style semiautomatic assault 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.”
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said that she was willing to send police officers to people’s homes to confiscate firearms banned through so-called red flag laws or other avenues.
“When I was attorney general [of California], and we put resources into allowing law enforcement to actually knock on the doors of people who were on two lists—a list where they had been found by a court to be a danger to themselves and others,” she told the Washington Examiner.
Presidential candidate Joe Biden says that as president he would institute a national buy-back program for assault weapons, adding that when it comes to preventing gun violence, Americans must “take on the gun manufacturers as well as the NRA.” https://t.co/XTbTzenoqi pic.twitter.com/SfiOy2nOZ3
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) August 6, 2019
Former Vice President Joe Biden said that, if he were elected, he would push for a “national buyback programs” to get assault weapons “off the street.” He didn’t specify what he meant by assault weapons.
Biden was asked by CNN host Anderson Cooper about people worrying Biden would be coming for their guns.
“Bingo! You’re right if you have an assault weapon,” Biden responded, before adding: “The fact of the matter is [assault weapons] should be illegal. Period. The Second Amendment doesn’t say you can’t restrict the kinds of weapons people can own. You can’t buy a bazooka. You can’t have a flame-thrower.”
The Epoch Times reporter Zachary Steiber contributed to this report
