Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) just had to be that guy. When it comes to tweeting dumb stuff, he is undefeated. When someone in the Democratic Party needs to tweet something idiotic, he's always the first volunteer it would seem.
So, as the Democrats hope that this Buffalo mass shooting can give them a lifeline in the 2022 midterms—you have Swally tweeting this nonsense. Of course, he called for a new ban on so-called "assault weapons." There's only one problem: New York already has a ban on such weapons, which Dana Loesch pointed out.
My 4-year-old just FaceTimed to ask what I’m doing to “help the people in Buffalo” and “why did the bad man do this?” Absolutely gutting. This cannot be his normal. It’s time to BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS. #EndGunViolence
— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) May 16, 2022
“ASSAULT WEAPONS” ARE ALREADY BANNED IN NY https://t.co/0OQawpgzt5
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) May 16, 2022
Also, not that you don't already know this—but assault weapons bans don't work (via Reason):
The suspect in the mass shooting that killed 10 people at a Buffalo grocery store on Saturday used a rifle that was widely described as an "assault weapon." With certain exceptions that don't apply here, that category of firearms is illegal in New York. Yet The New York Times reports that the shooter legally bought the rifle from a gun dealer in Endicott, New York. How is that possible?
It turns out that the rifle, a Bushmaster XM-15 ES, was not an "assault weapon" at the time of the purchase, but it became an "assault weapon" after the shooter tinkered with it. The details of that transformation illustrate how arbitrary and ineffectual bans like New York's are.
Under the New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement (NY SAFE) Act, a 2013 law that was hurriedly passed in response to the December 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, "assault weapons" include semi-automatic rifles that accept detachable magazines and have one or more of seven "military-style" features. If we can trust the photograph in the online manifesto attributed to the Buffalo shooter, the rifle he bought had a pistol grip, which is one of the prohibited features. So why was the sale legal?
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And even liberal writers have admitted that when you look at the data—such policy is an abject failure and doesn't enhance public safety. But please, Swalwell—keep posting this stuff because it remains grade-A entertainment.
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