Booker Goes Bonkers with Plan to Regulate 2A as Privilege

U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Democrat presidential hopeful Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey has released a plan to combat so-called “gun violence” by essentially relegating the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms to the level of a privilege that is strictly regulated by the government, including licensing every five years, fingerprinting, and limiting handgun purchases to one per month.

His plan would also repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) so the door would be opened for harassment lawsuits against firearms manufacturers, holding them responsible for crimes committed by third parties, and for illegal gun trafficking.

Under Booker’s plan, so-called “universal background checks” would be required for all firearms transfers. Microstamping would be mandated, even though the technology would be prohibitively expensive.

“Microstamping is technology that allows law enforcement to identify the source of ammunition used in crimes by making a shell casing traceable to the specific gun that fired the round. Unfortunately, in many cases, there is little evidence left behind at crime scenes, resulting in a homicide ‘clearance rate’ of just 62 percent. Microstamping technology would allow law enforcement to trace crime guns as soon as a shell casing is found, helping to prevent future crimes from occurring.” —Cory Booker website “Cory’s Plan to end The Gun Violence Epidemic”

Firearms experts have already explained that this scheme would not work in cases where criminals use revolvers that do not leave spent shell casings at crime scenes.

Quoted by the New York Times, Booker promised, “I am going to come at this like folks have never seen before.”

Except that “folks” have seen it before, every time an extremist gun control package is thrown at the wall to see what sticks.

Reaction from gun owners on social media began almost immediately after Booker’s proposal was unveiled, and it is negative. One rights activist, responding to the licensing proposal, stated, “I already have one (a license). It’s called the Second Amendment.”

But under Booker’s proposal, the right to keep and bear arms would be subject to a five-year renewable license. The plan would require the following, according to a Booker website:

“Individuals could seek a gun license at a designated local office, widely available in urban and rural areas, similar to applying for or renewing a passport. They would submit fingerprints, provide basic background information, and demonstrate completion of a certified gun safety course.”—Cory Booker website “Cory’s Plan to end The Gun Violence Epidemic”

Booker’s plan smacks of the same extremism that inspired Washington State Initiative 1639 last fall, and legislation introduced in the state earlier this year by anti-gun Seattle-area Democrats in the State Legislature. The training requirement was likened to an unconstitutional literacy test by the Washington State Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association, which opposed the gun control initiative last year. I-1639 passed, but the training requirement for getting a state concealed pistol license died in the Legislature with proponents suggesting they would be back again in 2020.

His plan supports “Extreme Risk Protection Order” (ERPO) laws, generically called “red flag” laws that allow authorities to seize someone’s firearms without due process. Increasingly, gun owners and rights activists are voicing opposition to such laws because, in order for someone to recover his/her guns, they must go to court, essentially to prove they are innocent of a crime.

Booker would ban so-called “assault weapons” and original capacity magazines. He’s talking about turning millions of gun owners into instant criminals by classifying their legal semi-auto firearms and cartridge magazines as contraband.

The one-handgun-a-month scheme has been tried before. It’s just another way of regulating gun ownership for law-abiding citizens, but didn’t prevent criminals from obtaining firearms.

“Limiting bulk purchases of firearms is essential to combating gun trafficking. Under current federal law, which contains no limit on the number of firearms one can purchase, traffickers will make bulk purchases in states with weak gun laws and then resell in states with stricter rules.”—Cory Booker website “Cory’s Plan to end The Gun Violence Epidemic”

As if to underscore the fallacy Booker’s scheme, the Associated Press and KTUU News reported on two different gun store thefts in Washington State in recent days that netted more than 100 firearms. Ninety-eight of those guns were taken from a shop in Gorst, and another 30 were stolen from a shop in Sequim. Rewards of up to $11,000 are being offered, but the proverbial bottom line is that these guns are now in circulation, or soon will be, and not a single one of them will be transferred with a background check, license requirement or any of the other things Booker’s plan demands.

The fatal flaw in Booker’s proposal is that criminals don’t follow the law, and passing another package of laws will not bring a change.

About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

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