Cory Booker (D-NJ) suggested during the Democrat candidate debate gun owners should be licensed, because persons that drive automobiles are.
The Tampa Bay Times quoted Booker saying, “If you need a license to drive a car, you should need a license to buy and own a firearm.”
Booker justified his gun owner licensing proposal by pointing to all the gun violence in Newark, New Jersey. Although New Jersey has some of the most stringent gun controls in America–including a licensing requirement for gun owners–Booker pointed to firearm-based attacks in Newark and used those to push for even more gun laws.
Booker first pushed his licensing requirement for gun owners in early May. The New York Times reported Booker wants a law that would mean “a person seeking to buy a gun would need to apply for a license in much the same way one applies for a passport.”
Booker also wants would-be gun owners to undergo a TSA-style pre-check interview. They would not be allowed to purchase gun unless they pass the interview.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.