Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who has all but said he’s running for president in 2020, claimed Friday the federal government could use nuclear weapons in a war against the American people.
The comments came during a Twitter debate over restricting Americans’ access to guns. Radio host Dana Loesch reported on a Swalwell bill that calls for confiscating semi-automatic rifles.
Swalwell saw the tweet and confirmed his intent: “She’s not lying. We should ban assault weapons by buying them back or restricting them to ranges/clubs.”
Military vet, Joe Biggs, commented on Swalwell’s proposal, saying that forced confiscation of Americans’ weapons would amount to war.
Swalwell responded, saying “it would be a short war” because “the government has nukes”:
Swalwell then backed off a bit, saying he wasn’t actually threatening to nuke American citizens:
Swalwell later tweeted again, expressing his disappointment that his threat of using nuclear weapons against the American people failed to yield progress in the gun control debate:
Swalwell then began tweeting at people expressing their concern, insisting he was being sarcastic the whole time:
In the likely event the congressman deletes the tweets, a screenshot is embedded below:
