Mandatory gun buybacks are unconstitutional and could give the federal government broad power to impose their will on law-abiding citizens, said 2020 presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Sunday.
Sanders was taking questions at a green jobs town hall in Charles City, Iowa, when he was asked for his opinion on mandatory buybacks of AR15s and AK47s.
“I don’t support — a mandatory buyback is essentially confiscation, which I think is unconstitutional,” he replied. “It means that I am going to walk into your house and take something whether you like it or not. I don’t think that stands up to constitutional scrutiny.”
Sanders shared his gun control plan, which included taking an adversarial stance against the National Rifle Association, increasing background checks and banning the sale of assault weapons.
“We cannot allow the NRA to dictate policy because they’ve intimidated [President] Trump and they’ve intimidated the Republican party,” he added. “I’m not going to be intimidated by them.”
Former fellow 2020 candidate Beto O’Rourke was an outspoken advocate of mandatory gun buybacks for assault-style weapons and made it a centerpiece of his campaign.
In September at the New Hampshire Democratic Party convention, O’Rourke called for mandatory buybacks, red flag laws, and a national registry, all in the same speech.
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