During his April 9, 2019, town hall in Florida, 2020 presidential hopeful Eric Swalwell (D-CA) said that he thinks licensing and insurance requirements for gun owners are worthy pursuits.

Swalwell said, “I think most gun owners who are responsible want to see more licensing, and standards, and background checks. So I do support having higher standards. I also don’t think it’s unreasonable to look at, especially if you accumulate some of the most dangerous weapons, having insurance requirements as well.”

Swalwell also reiterated his push to ban “assault weapons” and use a mandatory buyback to take them from their current owners. He said, “Keep your pistols, keep your rifles, keep your shotguns, but we can ban and buy back the 15 million ‘assault weapons’ in our country.”

When an audience member asked about creating a national database on gun owners, Swalwell responded, “I just don’t buy that there’s going to be any national round-up of guns. No one is saying, ‘Round up the guns.'” He said fear of a government-sponsored firearm round-up is “illogical.”

On May 3, 2018, Breitbart News reported that Swalwell’s “assault weapons” ban includes criminal prosecution of gun owners who do not comply.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.