“The shooter who killed 12 and injured 58 in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater this month had purchased over 6,000 rounds of ammunition anonymously on the Internet shortly before going on his killing spree, according to law enforcement officials.” Yes, well, no. You can’t buy ammunition over the internet anonymously. You have to provide your name and a physical address. [Most NY boroughs, LA and DC already prohibit online ammo purchases, as does Massachusetts.] But I suppose a true believer in gun control shouldn’t let facts stand in the way of their messianic zeal. And so they don’t . . .
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (N.Y.) are introducing a [doomed] bill today that new would make the sale of ammunition “safer for law-abiding Americans who are sick and tired of the ease with which criminals can now anonymously stockpile for mass murder.”
Shouldn’t that be safer for everyone? And I’m not sure how limiting online sales—the exact method for which has not yet been revealed—would make anyone safer from mass murderers.
Lest we forget, spree killer James Holmes could have bought his ammo at a store; he had nothing more than a speeding ticket to his name. He could have paid cash and left not a trace of that transaction. Not that I want to give anyone ideas . . .
Lautenberg’s statement on the new bill [via thehill.com] revealed a two-pronged attack on attacks, and his conviction that the police should be better armed than civilians.
We need to start today on efforts to prevent the next attack. We should begin by passing my legislation to ban the sale of high-capacity gun magazines. No sportsman needs 100 rounds to shoot a duck, but allowing high-capacity magazines in the hands of killers like James Holmes and Jared Loughner puts law enforcement at a disadvantage and innocent lives at risk.
FYI “High capacity” magazines are already banned (or severely restricted) in California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Hawaii.
TTAG has contacted Lautenberg’s and Senator McCarthy’s office for a full copy of the statement and the text of the proposed bill. Oh, and the new term gun control advocates use for limiting online ammo sales is “ammunition accountability.”