Washington, DC – -(Ammoland.com)- A trio of perennial Capitol Hill gun banners have introduced legislation that would require American citizens to obtain a federal license from the Department of Justice before they could buy or receive a firearm, with periodic mandatory re-licensing and training.
New Jersey Democrat Senators Cory [Sparticus] Booker and Bob Menendez, and Connecticut Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal are behind the 11-page measure, dubbed the “Federal Firearm Licensing Act.”
As noted by Politico, “The DOJ license would require both a written firearm safety test and hands-on training, a criminal background check and submission of fingerprints and proof of identity. The license would only be available to people over 21 years of age, essentially raising the age of gun ownership to 21.”
The bill would amend Chapter 44 of Title 18. Right upfront, the legislation states, “it shall be unlawful for any individual to purchase or receive a firearm unless the individual has a valid Federal firearm license.”
But there is more, and it is disturbing.
“The Attorney General shall issue or deny a license under this section not later than 30 days after the date on which the application for such license is received.
“Each license issued under this section shall be valid for the purchase of a single firearm, which shall be purchased not later than 30 days after the date on which the license is issued.”
In two paragraphs, the Booker-Blumenthal-Menendez bill reduces a constitutionally-protected fundamental right to the level of heavily-regulated government privilege. Proof of that is underscored by a remark from Booker in his press release, in which he compares the right to keep and bear arms to driving a car, which is not mentioned anywhere in the Bill of Rights.
“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,” Booker stated.
The anti-gun trio figures to capitalize on the tragic May 14th, 2022 shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y.
The New York Times is reporting that with the current 50-50 makeup of the Senate, restrictive gun control legislation doesn’t have much of a chance to advance, however. In the aftermath of the Buffalo shooting, “Democrats on Capitol Hill were publicly conceding that their paper-thin majority in the Senate meant there was little they would be able to do to prevent the next tragedy,” the NY Times acknowledged.
Quoting anti-gun Democrat Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the report said Durbin admitted, “We’re kind of stuck where we are, for the time being.”
Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, reportedly was “playing down the chance that even a modest bill to strengthen background checks for gun purchases could overcome a Republican blockade.”
But Durbin didn’t mention that the accused shooter in Buffalo had actually passed a background check when he bought the firearm allegedly used in the attack. Only after the purchase, according to authorities, was the weapon apparently modified, and the suspect acquired full-capacity magazines, which are already illegal in New York state.
Translation: Nothing Durbin mentioned would have prevented the Buffalo shooting. Durbin’s three anti-gun Democrat colleagues think their new bill will fix that. At least, that’s what they are asserting.
“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,” Menendez said in Booker’s news release. “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.”
Elsewhere in Booker’s press release, his office reveals, “The federal firearm license must be renewed every five years at which point the applicant will have to go through a background check and undergo firearm safety training again. (Emphasis added) The bill contains a mechanism for the DOJ to revoke the license if the individual poses a danger to themselves or to others. It would require the Federal Bureau of Investigation to regularly conduct checks to ensure that individuals are in compliance with federal license requirements and keeps in place requirements that all people purchasing firearms from a federal firearms licensee undergo a background check.”
The New York Times editorial page is ramping up the rhetoric, blaming Republicans and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson for promoting so-called “Replacement Theory” ideas, which allegedly guided the Buffalo gunman, but it is only well into the editorial that the real purpose comes clear.
“The focus on the gunman’s motives should not obscure the fact that the most important step the government can take to impede similar attacks is to limit the availability of guns,” the editorial states.
Essentially, the newspaper takes the country right back to the gun ban strategy.
Whether the Booker-Blumenthal-Menendez legislation has any chance may be debatable. If the U.S. Supreme Court hands down a ruling next month in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that strikes down New York’s extremist “good cause” carry permit requirement, the gun control movement would suffer a withering defeat.
There is another case up for review consideration by the high court, challenging a semi-auto ban in Maryland. If the court accepts that one for review, and comes down on the side of the right to keep and bear arms, it is essentially “game over” for the gun prohibition lobby, and they know it.
The Booker-Blumenthal-Menendez legislation requiring a federal license to buy or possess a firearm has long odds of passing, and even if it did, there is no doubt it would be challenged by every firearm rights organization on the map, possibly joined by other rights groups that would see some ugly writing on the wall.
Federal Firearm Licensing Act of 2022
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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