Booker would require federal licensing as part of broad plan to ‘end epidemic of gun violence’
New Jersey senator, former Newark mayor, would also ban assault weapons, limit handgun sales to one each month
New Jersey senator, former Newark mayor, would also ban assault weapons, limit handgun sales to one each month
Sen. Cory Booker would push to enact federal firearms licensing as part of his broad new plan to “end the epidemic of gun violence” if he is elected president.
The New Jersey Democrat and former mayor of Newark, his state’s largest city, would also close several of what he calls loopholes, require handgun “microstamping,” ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and allow the purchase of only one handgun each month.
Booker also promises to strengthen the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and increase spending on violence intervention and family and community support programs. As a candidate, he is also calling on the Internal Revenue Service now to investigate the tax-exempt status of the National Rifle Association.
Booker on Monday morning released a plan his campaign calls “the most sweeping gun violence prevention plan ever put forth by a presidential candidate.” He promised that some of the actions, such as closing “loopholes in gun sales,” will be taken by executive action on his first day in office.
His campaign did not have a cost estimate for the additional federal spending in the plan, but it said the cost “would be at least partially offset” by proceeds of federal gun licensing fees, which it said in some states are as much as $100.
Booker intends to discuss the plan with New Hampshire voters when he returns to the state May 11-13 for events in Keene, Laconia, Berlin, Littleton and Concord, with details to be announced. Other stops will also be included in the campaign swing. And, as previously announced, Booker will deliver the commencement address to Southern New Hampshire University online students on Sunday, May 12.
Booker, who still resides in Newark, said in a statement: “In my community, kids fear fireworks on the fourth of July because they sound like gunshots. In communities across the country, from Newark to Charlotte, from San Diego to Chicago, and everywhere in between, Americans are being killed and families are being torn apart. We must do better. We need to do better."
“As president, we will make commonsense changes to our gun laws, such as requiring a license to purchase a gun, that (also) includes universal background checks, banning assault weapons, and closing the loopholes that allow domestic abusers and people on terrorist watch lists to get their hands on a gun,” Booker said. “I am sick and tired of hearing thoughts and prayers for the communities that have been shattered by gun violence - it is time for bold action.”
A key provision of his plan would require federal gun licenses for people who meet “minimum standards for gun ownership.”
Licenses would be available at designated local offices, “widely available in urban and rural areas, similar to applying for, or renewing, a passport,” Booker’s plan says. People would be fingerprinted, “provide basic background information during an appointment, and demonstrate completion of a certified gun safety course.”
The FBI would then run a comprehensive background check on each applicant before issuing a federal gun license allowing a person to purchase firearms. The license would be a valid for up to five years and would be renewed pending “regular, automatic checks to flag non-compliance with license terms.”
States with their own licensing laws would be required to “meet basic federal standards.”
According to the Giffords Law Center, an arm of the self-described gun violence prevention group named after 2011 shooting victim and former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, 15 states currently require licensing of some or all firearms.
New Hampshire is not among those states.
Booker’s campaign, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kaiser Family Foundation, says: “In Connecticut, researchers found a 40 percent drop in gun homicides and 15 percent reduction in firearm suicides after the state passed a law that required a purchasing license for handguns. Massachusetts, a state with a gun license program, had 3.6 gun deaths per 100,000 people in 2016, compared to neighboring New Hampshire, which had a gun death rate of 9.9 per 100,000 people and does not have a comprehensive gun licensing program.”
The campaign says, “If you need a license to drive a car, you should need a license to buy and possess a gun.”
Booker’s plan would also:
-- Make guns subject to the same levels of federal safety regulations that now apply to toys, medicine and other consumer products.
-- Allow the Consumer Product Safety Commission to require safety warnings and issue recalls for faulty products.
-- Repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act of 2005 (PLCAA), which protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable when crimes have been committed with their products.
-- Require microstamping of new models of semi-automatic handguns, which Booker says would allow law enforcement officials to trace guns used in crimes when shell casings are found.
-- Ban former dating partners who have been convicted of abuse or are under a restraining order from purchasing firearms.
-- Expand background checks to gun show sales, online sales and sales by unlicensed sellers.
-- Continue the current federal bump stock ban.
-- Make “a significant investment” into research on gun violence.
-- Increase funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to enhance its ability to investigate crimes and “crack down” on gun dealers.
-- Increase funding for community-based violence intervention programs.
-- Increase funding for programs that support families and communities affected by gun violence.
“My plan to address gun violence is simple,” Booker said. “We will make it harder for people who should not have a gun to get one.”
Other candidates, including Sen. Kamala Harris and Rep. Eric Swalwell, both of California, have also laid out gun control plans, although Booker is the only candidate so far to propose federal gun licensing.
Harris says that if Congress fails to act in the first 100 days of her administration to enact universal background checks, ban assault weapons, and repeal the PLCAA manufacturers’ and dealers’ immunity bill, she will use executive action to enact them. She would also sign an executive order requiring anyone who sells five or more guns in a year to run background checks on all gun sales.
Swalwell has proposed a mandatory national ban and buyback of semiautomatic assault weapons, in addition to enactment of universal backgrounds checks and doing more to take guns away from domestic abusers.
Booker's plan drew criticism from the Republican National Committee.
"Just when you think the 2020 field could not get anymore out there, Cory Booker comes in with a plan to use executive action filled with new restrictions and permits on law-abiding gun-owners," said party spokeswoman Mandi Merritt. "Voters across the country will see this as another big government grab on our constitutional rights."