Eric Swalwell 2020: Congressman 'to run for president on gun control platform' with support of Parkland shooting survivor

Announcement set to be made on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

A Democratic congressman from California is said to be set to enter the 2020 presidential race on a platform of gun control, and is to receive the backing of a survivor of the Parkland school shooting.

Reports say Eric Swalwell with make the announcement on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where he is due to appear with Cameron Kasky.

Mr Kasky was among the survivors of the shooting last year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 students and staff were killed and a further 17 injured.

Mr Swalwell, 34, who represents California’s 15th congressional district, said last week he believed gun control needed to be at the top of everybody’s mind as the country prepared for the 2020 elections.

He told The Atlantic he would be taking part in a so-called town hall event with Mr Kasky close to the scene of the February 2028 shooting.

“We are doing a town hall in Parkland,” he said. “And I do believe that gun safety has to be a top 2020 issue.”

The congressman, who has recently been visiting the politically crucial state of Iowa ahead of a possible run, has been among the leading campaigners for tightening regulations surrounding firearms that in 2018 killed at least 14,611 Americans.

That figure did not include cases of suicide.

Last year, he said the government should outlaw military-style semiautomatic assault weapons that are used in many of the mass shootings that plague the country.

He said existing owners should be forced to sell their weapons to the government of else face prosecution, a major departure from prior gun control proposals.