Washington (CNN) California Rep. Eric Swalwell -- a recently announced Democratic presidential candidate -- said Sunday his call for a ban on assault weapons was not a step toward broader gun bans.

"You know, keep your pistols, keep your long rifles, keep your shotguns," Swalwell said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" with Jake Tapper when asked about anxiety from gun owners that an assault weapons ban could be an incremental step to a larger gun ban.

He continued, "I want the most dangerous weapons, these weapons of war, out of the hands of the most dangerous people."

Swalwell announced last Monday he would join the widening Democratic presidential field and scheduled his first event at a town hall near Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, the site of a deadly school shooting last year.

He has called for a ban on "military-style semiautomatic assault weapons" with a buy-back program.

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