When he’s not pretending to be a combat vet, Senator Richard “Dan Nang Dick” Blumenthal likes to pretend he’s a Ghost Buster. Instead of using a Plasma Series Neutrona Wand however, he wants to implement pointless regulations to get rid of “ghost guns.” Granted, ghost guns aren’t quite the issue as the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man crushing NYC, but Blumenthal wouldn’t be a democrat if he spent his time solving actual problems.
Politico reports on this latest democrat waste of time:
With U.S. gun sales soaring during the coronavirus pandemic, a group of 15 Senate Democrats is introducing legislation calling for new restrictions on untraceable “ghost guns.”
Made using gun kits or by 3D printing — and sometimes referred to as “80 percent guns” because they haven’t reached a level of manufacturing that meets the legal definition of a firearm — these weapons have no serial numbers, as compared to guns sold by federally licensed gun dealers. There’s also no requirement to obtain a federal background check for anyone who buys a kit and builds such a weapon, and they can be sold by unlicensed dealers.
Led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, these Senate Democrats — who include Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York — want to require that all guns sold in the United States after Jan. 1, 2022, can be traced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Gun-kit manufacturers, distributors, sellers and buyers would come under the same federal regulations that govern the purchase or sale of completed firearms, including a requirement for serial numbers on all weapons and background checks for buyers of the kits.
“There has been a tremendous proliferation of firearm sales generally, but most particularly for these types of untraceable weapons that essentially provide ‘crime guns’ that are really dangerous. They are clearly a means to evade the current federal laws,” said Blumenthal.
If these guns are untraceable, how does he know there has been a tremendous proliferation of them? That seems like a question a reasonable journalist would have asked, but this is Politico.
Blumenthal and other Senate Democrats also note that such untraceable weapons are turning up more frequently at shooting scenes, including mass shootings.
Sure, Blumenthal and the democrats noted that, but they didn’t provide any proof of it. A responsible journalist would have asked for some hard numbers on ghost guns used in crime, but again, this is Politico.
And since this is a fact-free liberal media puff piece, Politico went ahead and got a dumb quote from anti-gun group Everytowon for Gun safety:
“Ghost guns are flying off the shelves because of panic buying, said Nick Suplina, law director of Everytown.
How the f*ck does he know? Remember, the whole point of this exercise in stupidity is that ghost guns are unregulated and untraceable. That being the case, there is no way he or Blumenthal could possibly know if even one ghost gun has been sold.
“Ghost gun sellers like to hide behind the pretense that their customers are just tinkerers, but it’s clear from our research that the truth is much darker. All too often, they are convicted domestic abusers, sex offenders, white supremacists, and minors,” Suplina said.
Oh yeah? How often? Again, this is information that he couldn’t possibly know. Also, since when does being a white supremacist legally bar a person from purchasing a firearm?
Besides the fact that “ghost guns” are not even close to being a serious crime issue, this Blumenthal push is completely pointless. I will use the example of an unfinished AR-15 lower receiver to demonstrate.
The only part of an AR-15 that the federal government considers to be a “firearm” is the lower receiver. Unfinished, or 80% lowers, are not considered to be firearms by federal law. If Blumenthal wants “ghost guns” regulated the same way as finished firearms are, that’s already a thing.
People selling firearms must have a Federal Firearms License and people buying firearms must pass a background check. People selling gun parts and hunks of metal don’t need an FFL and people buying them don’t have to jump through hoops to get them.
Blumenthal would need to change the law about what is actually recognized as a firearm, but his joke legislation doesn’t address that at all. In reality, he’s trying to pass a law that would make things remain as they are, which shows that in addition to pretending to be a combat vet and a Ghost Buster, Blumenthal is also pretending to be a legislator.
