“Never let a crisis go to waste,” said Democrats Cory Booker, Bob Menendez, and Richard Blumenthal.

In the wake of the Buffalo shooting, these three brain trusts have decided to introduce a new bill to make owning or purchasing a gun even more complex, time consuming, and cost-prohibitive. Behold their grand and likely unconstitutional idea – “The Federal Firearm Licensing Act.”

“This bill moves us in the right direction and is based on a simple concept – if you need a license to drive a car, you should need one to buy and possess a gun,”continued Sen. Booker. “Firearm licensing laws have broad public support and have been shown to reduce gun violence in states that have enacted them, including in my home state of New Jersey. This is the moment to enact ambitious legislation – as a nation, we must rise to it, or we are fated to witness the deadly scenes of this past weekend and years past over again.”

“The United States stands alone in our failure to protect our citizens from gun violence. While many states, including New Jersey, have commonsense gun laws, the need for federal licensing standards has long been clear,” said Sen. Menendez. “The Federal Firearms Licensing Act would put in place a certification process that includes firearm safety training and a thorough criminal background and identity check requiring the licensee be 21 years of age. We have a moral obligation to prevent these senseless massacres in our schools, supermarkets, places of worship and shopping malls that are tearing communities and families apart. It is my hope that my Republican colleagues will once-and-for-all recognize the urgency of action and join us in passing this legislation before more lives are senselessly lost to gun violence.”

“This legislation will save lives and protect communities across the United States from the devastating impact of gun violence,” said Sen. Blumenthal. “As shown by the success in Connecticut, simple, common sense standards like licensing laws requiring the completion of a background check and firearm safety certification work. I’m proud to join Senators Booker and Menendez in this effort to address our nation’s gun violence epidemic.”

Well, no one can say that they didn’t see some kind of grandiose attempt by the Democrats coming to take away rights from law-abiding citizens because the laws that they put in place already don’t work when no one enforces them. Stephen Gutowski, who is an excellent source for honest and analytical gun reporting, wrote a piece detailing how the Buffalo shooter could have been stopped or delayed with the laws that New York state already has – but didn’t use.

In the case of the alleged Buffalo shooter, there were several parties who could have requested a red flag order based on his past behavior. The alleged shooter expressed a general desire in a school assignment to kill himself and others in June 2021. As a result, he was taken by police for a psychological evaluation and spent a day and a half in a mental hospital, according to NPR.”

However, he was released and no further action was taken.”

If either the police, school administrators, or his parents had filed for an ERPO, the shooter likely would have been prohibited from buying the gun he used in his attack. The shooter’s clear willingness to break dozens of laws, including by illegally modifying his gun, implies he may have been willing to buy a gun illegally even if subject to an ERPO. But making his acquisition of a gun more difficult very well could have prevented the attack.”

So, what do Democrats Booker, Menendez, and Blumenthal want to do? They want to create a whole new FFL standard, one that every single gun owner in the country would have to adhere to. The text of the bill can be read here, but the bullet points are as follows:
– the bill would require a firearm safety course, with both in-person hands-on training and a written test
– it would require a federal background check
– it would require fingerprints, proof of identity, and the description of the firearm (make, model, serial number, and identity of seller) that the gun owner wishes to purchase
– it would require that the person trying to get this FFL is at least 21 years old
– it allows for ONE firearm purchase within 30 days of getting the FFL, and that’s it
– it would require that this new FFL in order to own a gun be renewed every five years
And then the bill goes into the entire process of applying for the Federal Firearms License, which apparently leaves it completely in the hands of the Attorney General – or, more specifically, the Department of Justice bureaucracy to approve or reject each and every application for this FFL. What could possibly go wrong???

Can we count the ways of how messed up this attempt to curb legal gun ownership is? First, let’s start with the fact that the Democrats would love to have any kind of federal gun registry, and this is a pretty blatant attempt to establish one. Second, this bill appears to want to trump all state laws on gun ownership, especially considering there would be a written test involved. The federal government has no intent to create a written test for each state’s gun laws – they just want THEIR laws. Third, how much information mining is this bill aiming to get from people – Fingerprints? Proof of identity (what RACISTS these Democrats are, right)? – just because they want to exercise their constitutional right to own a firearm.

And apparently these East Coast Democrats just missed the decision that the Ninth Circuit – yes, THAT Ninth Circuit – just issued about California’s attempt to restrict firearm ownership to those 21 and older. Surprise! The Ninth Circuit just issued a 2-1 ruling that it isn’t constitutional.

Now, should California appeal this decision (the case is Jones v. Bonta), it could get all the way up to the Supreme Court. And given that the Court is about to rule on another gun case out of New York regarding the denial of concealed carry permits, California is probably hedging their bets a little to wait and see the ruling in that case first.

Don’t forget that under this new law, every single gun owner would be required to renew their license every five years. Do you think that this license will be affordable, or do you think Booker, Menendez, and Blumenthal intend for this to be either so cost-prohibitive as to keep people from even owning a firearm, or do you think they see this as a cash cow for the federal government?

And no, the law says nothing about the guns that you already own – you know, the ones that were lost in that tragic boating accident. The law only provides for the purchase of a gun within 30 days of getting this license (I guess you pick out the gun, and then apply for the FFL to buy it? How would this even work?), and it explicitly limits the purchase of firearms to ONE every FIVE YEARS. So, you just gave the government your fingerprints, proof of identity, took a class, took a test, had the background check run, and NOW the federal government will deign to allow you to purchase ONE firearm. At this point, you should be able to buy a machine gun, right?

Kudos to Senator Menendez, who, in his above statement, pins the responsibility for passing this load of garbage on to Republicans. Um, I’m betting you couldn’t even convince Joe Manchin to even READ this bill, much less support it. Last I checked, the Democrats have the edge in the Senate, but everyone knows Joe Manchin is calling the shots. This bill is a non-starter, but boy, don’t the Democrats feel good about themselves and completely self-righteous for proposing it!

Featured image via Bret_Hondow on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license