Cory Booker said he backs legislation that would get Americans “thrown in jail” for owning "assault weapons" if they do not hand them over in a buyback program in which they would be sold to the government.
Booker, a senator for New Jersey and 2020 presidential hopeful, said that incarceration would be an option after a “reasonable period" following the buyback offer.
“Again, we should have a law that bans these weapons, and we should have a reasonable period in which people can turn in these weapons. Right now we have a nation that allows in streets and communities like mine these weapons that should not exist,” Booker said on CNN on Monday.
Booker’s statement was in response to a question asked by CNN's Poppy Harlow about his gun control proposals. “Senator Booker, before you go, one final question on your gun proposal since you just released it this morning: Your competitor in the 2020 race, Congressman Eric Swalwell has also, like you, proposed an assault weapons ban,” Harlow said.