As we’ve noted, for many of the forty or so currently-announced Democrat candidates running for President in 2020 , the race has devolved into a competition to see who can crank out the most anti-gun talking points.
Eric “Nuke-Em” Swalwell set a high bar by threatening to incinerate gun owners who refuse to comply with his minimally compensated confiscation scheme. Kamala Harris decided that, if she’s elected President, she’d at least give Congress 100 days to act within the limits of the Constitution before handing down executive orders to restrict gun sales and manufacturing.
Next up to the civilian disarmament rhetorical plate: Cory “Spartacus” Booker. According to AOL (which apparently is still a thing) . . .
Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker is pitching a sweeping gun control agenda with more than a dozen specific elements, marking his second policy rollout in three weeks as he looks for a breakthrough moment in the crowded 2020 primary.
T-Bone’s pal would create a national firearms license (good for five years) that would require individual applicant interviews and mandatory training. It would also outlaw “assault weapons,” bump fire stocks, and “high capacity” magazines, (of course). You can read all of details on the Senator’s rights-abridging brainstorm here.
Booker took to CNN this morning for what you would think (he probably did, too) would be a softball, wet-kiss morning cable interview. But one of the hosts hit him with an actual question just before it ended. She wanted to know if, like Representative Nuke-Em, Booker would throw Americans who defy his confiscation plans in jail. And she pressed him on it.
Surprising absolutely no one, he dodged that bullet.
Cory Booker won’t say whether he’ll jail Americans who refuse to surrender firearms they lawfully purchased if he’s president: pic.twitter.com/DTGDDLp2ud
— Mikhael Smits (@mikhaelsmits) May 6, 2019
Go figure.
But a funny thing is happening on the way to the nomination (besides the fact that old white guns are dominating the Dem field so far). The candidates who are basing their campaigns on promises of civilian disarmament aren’t doing very well.
As The Hill reports, a recent Harvard/Harris poll shows California Kamala running a distant third, a full 35 points behind front-runner Joe Biden. Still further back, Booker’s tied for sixth with the uber-popular and oh-so-dreamy Beto at a mere 3 percentage points.
And Swalwell? He’s mired at the bottom in that nebulous “less than 1%” category. In other words, the only people who will say they’re supporting him are his staff, his family and (maybe) his dog.
Don’t get us wrong. We aren’t under any illusions about the other Dems’ disarmament inclinations. Gun control and limits on Second Amendment rights are baked into the party’s platform as a bedrock aspect of their orthodoxy. Like the scorpion on the frog’s back, it’s just their nature.
And there’s a loooong way to go. The Iowa caucuses are still nine months away – an eternity in political time. So a lot can (and probably will happen before the party settles on a challenger to Trump.
Still, it’s worth noting that the candidates who are working hardest to incorporate gun control and civilian disarmament as key parts of their campaigns are seeing very little traction with potential voters. And we’re all broken up about it.