Democrats are firm believers in never letting a good crisis go to waste. It’s why they started talking about blocking gun sales to people on the no-fly list after Orlando, despite the shooter not being on the no-fly list, and universal background checks after Sandy Hook, despite that killer stealing his guns. In addition to the disaster that is the current ban on bump-fire stocks bill, House Democrats have pulled some shenanigans of their own.
They think the time is right to ban online ammo sales, standard capacity magazines, and to require dealers to report anyone who buys two or more guns during the same five-day period. In other words, the standard anti-gun wishlist.
House Democrats have introduced a number of new gun control measures in the wake of a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas.
Among the proposals are HR.3962 to ban online ammunition sales, H.R. 4025 requiring gun dealers to report the sale of two or more rifles to the same person in a five-day period, and HR. 4052, which would ban magazines able to hold greater than 10 rounds.
“Several of my colleagues and I have introduced commonsense legislation that, if enacted, would reduce gun violence and the tragic impact it has on our communities,” said U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, the New Jersey Democrat sponsoring the Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act.
Coleman’s proposal is much like a state law approved last year by voters in California in the respect that it would require federally licensed ammo dealers to directly confirm the identity of those buying ammo over the Internet by verifying a photo I.D. in-person. Also, the measure would require the vendor to report any individual sales of more than 1,000 rounds in a five-day period to the U.S. Attorney General. Garnering 29 co-sponsors, all Democrat, the measure has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
This is nothing more than political grandstanding, a desperate effort to be seen to be “doing something” in the wake of Las Vegas.
At least the bump-fire stock ban has some bipartisan support, even if the NRA is opposed to it. It has support from the party that has control over both chambers of Congress and the White House.
by Tom Knighton
