United Liberty

Most who follow gun laws know that Frank Lautenberg isn’t exactly a friend of the Second Amendment.  For those who don’t know this, let this little tidbit educate you on Lautenberg and his latest efforts:

Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg on Monday continued his lead role in advancing gun control legislation in the wake of the Aurora, Colo. mass shooting by introducing a bill to ban the online sale of ammunition.

“If someone wants to purchase deadly ammunition, they should have to come face-to-face with the seller,” Lautenberg stated in his announcement. ”It’s one thing to buy a pair of shoes online, but it should take more than a click of the mouse to amass thousands of rounds of ammunition.”

“The Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act” asserts the following: ammunition will only be sold by licensed dealers; buyers who are not licensed dealers will be required to present photo identification; and licensed dealers must maintain records of ammunition sales and report to officials the sale of more than 1,000 rounds to an unlicensed person. Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York, whose husband was killed and son severely injured in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road mass shooting, has signed on to publicly support the bill.

Lautenberg’s office noted Monday that the shooter who killed 12 and injured 58 in the July 20 attack at the Colorado movie theater purchased upwards of 6,000 rounds of ammunition “anonymously on the internet.”

For many, this shouldn’t be a big deal.  However, there are legitimate reasons to purchase a lot of ammo.  Competition and training for competitions is the reason I’ve bought large quantities of ammo online.

Here’s the kicker.  None of the proposed legislation - either this or Obama’s call for stricter background checks - would have done anything to prevent Aurora.  James Holmes could easily have purchased his ammo over a longer period of time and thus far I’ve seen no evidence he would have shown he wouldn’t have still been able to purchase his weapons.

However, for those who seek to take away liberty, never let a good crisis go to waste.  This bill isn’t about protecting people.  It’s about exerting control.  It must be, because that’s the net effect of a measure like this.