Inspired by the Parkland survivors, the California congressman has made gun violence the focus of his 2020 Democratic campaign

'For the NRA, the gig is up': Eric Swalwell on why gun control is a winning issue

It has been two months since the Democratic presidential hopeful Eric Swalwell joined survivors and families of victims of the Parkland high school massacre in Florida to launch a White House campaign specifically targeted at ending America’s epidemic of gun violence.

During that time, thousands more people have been killed by weapons around the country, including another 12 exactly one week ago in the most recent mass shooting in Virginia Beach.

It’s what Swalwell, a Democratic congressman from California, considers a carousel of misery, a seemingly endless cycle of killing, mourning, outrage and demands for change, always followed by sympathy and platitude, but never any action, from lawmakers in Washington DC.

Yet he sees hope despite the ever-rising death toll. And he challenges the suggestion that one of the biggest problems preventing action on gun legislation is people either not caring or not believing that anything will ever change.

“I know why people may believe that, because we’re on this carousel where loss, grief, anger and then thoughts and prayers from Washington is an alibi for doing nothing,” he said in an interview with the Guardian ahead of national gun violence awareness day.

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Swalwell pointed at the success of groups like Moms Demand Action, a grassroots movement fighting for public safety measures to protect people from gun violence, in challenging the influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in the 2016 midterm elections. “So there’s hope where hope had died before. That’s what motivates me,” Swalwell said.

Swalwell has aligned himself with the families and student survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida, where 17 students and teachers were murdered in February 2018, and their March for Our Lives movement that captured the world’s attention afterwards.

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He has several proposals to tackle the guns crisis and remove military-style assault weapons from the streets of the US, including a controversial buy-back program that goes further than any of his rivals vying for the Democratic presidential nomination for 2020.

“Assault rifles may account for a small number of gun violence deaths but they account for 100% of the fear that kids have. That’s the weapon they saw used in Parkland, they’ve seen used in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and Las Vegas. They’re afraid of this particular weapon. So it’s not just the lives you save, it’s the peace of mind you bring.”

In America’s schools, he believes, the threat of gun violence has wreaked an incalculable toll, from the regular lockdown drills that students must endure to passing armed law enforcement officers every day at the campus gates.

“I don’t believe it has to be the new normal,” he said. “It’s not just the lives lost but the trauma and anxiety that every kid in America is going through right now, that you can’t quantify so easily, but will have lasting effects on their lives because of gun violence in our schools.

“In Virginia Beach, one of the witnesses saw the shooter going through the building and thought it was a drill,” he said, referring to last week’s shooting at a municipal building in the city. “Think about that. We’ve had so many mass shooting drills that when a shooting happens it’s just like a burglar alarm or fire alarm going off, and we’re not reacting the way that we should.”

Swalwell believes a majority of Americans supports stricter gun restrictions. “[Most people] believe you can keep your pistols, keep your shotguns, keep your rifles, but get dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people,” he said.

If the public has grown immune to the lengthening list of tragedy – from Columbine and Sandy Hook to Orlando, Las Vegas, Parkland and now Virginia Beach – Swalwell says he has seen no evidence of it.

He recounted an exchange at a recent gun violence town hall in Fairfield, in a rural part of south-eastern Iowa. More than a hundred people showed up, Swalwell said, despite it being a single-issue town hall.

﻿“I asked if this community seems fairly safe, why would you show up to talk about gun violence? This woman said, ‘because I don’t want it coming to my church’,” he recounted.

“So there is a recognition that when you look at the victims … they’re black, they’re white, they’re young, they’re old. The victims are starting to look and come from all parts of America, and my hope is that more and more people believe we don’t have to live this way,” he said.

One marked change, Swalwell believes, is that the midterm election results have shown the influence of the NRA has diminished. “We figured out in this last election that it’s just noise, that their tactic is to bully and to be vocal, but that they’re a vocal minority,” he said.

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“They want us to believe it’s a divisive issue. As a tactic it’s been effective for a while. We would always say we’re only allowed to grieve these shootings, we’re not allowed to act, and any time we would try to act we were told, well, you know, you’re touching a very hot issue, it’ll lead to a cultural war in America.

“But for the NRA, the gig is up,” he added.

If anybody still doubts the strength of public opinion on gun issues in the US, Swalwell says, they need look no further than Parkland.

“I saw Parkland as a place where hope died. But in a uniquely American way, owing to the strength and courage of children, it’s a place where hope was reborn, where I believe we have an opportunity to seize momentum to make sure that kids are safe in their classrooms,” he said.