For a guy who has spent millions of dollars trying to influence the laws governing firearms in the United States, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg has a surprisingly poor grasp of existing gun control laws.
The 2020 Democratic primary candidate spoke recently about his gun control platform, which calls for the usual stuff embraced by left-wing presidential wannabes. Though the speech was mostly ho-hum, it did reveal that Bloomberg is generally ignorant about existing firearm regulations, which raises the obvious question: How do you plan to fix the laws when you do not even understand the ones currently in place?
Bloomberg, for example, touted a proposal that he said would “allow authorities to screen applicants for dangerous behavior,” according to the Washington Free Beacon. The former mayor alleged further that there are no guardrails to prevent people “from getting a gun when they’re a minor, when they have a criminal record, or when they have psychiatric problems.”
None of what he said here is true, of course.
Gun buyers in the U.S. are already subjected to background screenings. It is called the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. It is required of all legal firearm purchases, and it verifies whether a potential customer has a disqualifying criminal or mental health record.
Moreover, along with flagging both crimes and mental health issues, the NICS process also “verifies the purchaser is old enough to own the gun they’re trying to buy,” the Free Beacon’s Stephen Gutowski notes. “Bloomberg did not say why he believes this system is inadequate or ineffective; his campaign did not respond to questions about this or other comments.”
The 2020 Democratic candidate also vowed to close a “loophole” barring “law enforcement from identifying felons and others who own guns illegally.”
No such loophole exists under current federal law — not that I am aware of, at least. Gutowski, who is a National Rifle Association-certified instructor, has no clue what Bloomberg is talking about either. Neither, I suspect, does Bloomberg.
These are not little things, and this is not hair-splitting. Bloomberg is inventing “loopholes” where none exist, all while proposing a screening system that already exists. How can he fix something of which he seems so completely ignorant?
