Anti-gun US Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has expanded his recently-announced gun control plan by adding “suicide prevention” to the mix, prompting a leading national gun rights advocate to suggest his scheme faces the same hurdles as he does in his quest for the Oval Office.
“Booker has about as much chance of passing his gun control agenda as he does of being elected president,” quipped Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Last month, Booker announced a sweeping gun control package, followed a week later with a suicide prevention program that has, at its centerpiece, the implementation of a federal licensing program.
“Cory’s proposal for gun licenses would make it more difficult for those at risk of suicide to purchase a firearm,” said a message on his campaign website. “If you need a license to drive a car, you should need one to own a gun. Securing a federal license would require a background check, firearm safety training, and an in-person appointment — steps that combine to keep individuals in a moment of acute crisis from acting on their suicidality. Cory’s license plan builds on what works: according to a recent academic study, “Connecticut found a 15.4 percent reduction in firearm suicide rates after passing its gun permit law; while Missouri saw a 16.1 percent increase in firearm suicide rate after it repealed its state licensing law.”
Booker is one of 23 Democrats who have declared they are running for president, and his challengers are also pushing gun control as a major tenet of their campaigns.
California Sen. Kamala Harris has vowed that if she becomes president, she will take executive action to ban the importation of so-called “assault weapons,” reiterating what she has said previously about her first 100 days in office.
Harris was speaking at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, according to CNN.
The former California attorney general has promised several gun control actions if she wins. She also has promised to mandate so-called “universal background checks” and other measures.
Into the mix came New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who launched his campaign in mid-May, also promising to stand up to the National Rifle Association. About three years ago, he unintentionally admitted that gun control laws do not prevent violent crime when he told reporters that “guns are being taken off the street in an unprecedented way,” while acknowledging, “Some people, unfortunately, are turning to a different weapon.”
The mayor was alluding to a spike in stabbings in the city, proving that if a gun isn’t handy, a criminal will find another lethal weapon to continue his criminal activities.
Gottlieb called Booker’s proposal “demagoguery on steroids.” He said it was “alarming” that none of the other Democrats running for the presidency disavowed Booker’s gun control package.
“Proposals like this underscore why American gun owners are increasingly distrustful of Democrats,” Gottlieb said about Booker’s extremist gun control package.
