Democrat: We Must Ban Private Gun Sales Because Terrorism

According to Senator Diane Feinstein, we can’t let one person sell a gun privately to another person because the buyer might be a terrorist.

She’s also saying that defeating the Senate filibuster of the gun control bill opens the door to another assault weapons ban. So, you know, thanks to supposedly pro-gun Senators like John Hoeven and Heidi Heitkamp here in North Dakota for opening that particular door.

(Washington DC) – During an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said expanded background checks are “not enough,” and private gun sales cannot continue because they allow terrorists to buy guns in the United States.

Feinstein said private gun sales allow felons to buy firearms as well.

In addition, Feinstein believes the failure of the filibuster threat against Senate gun control opens the door to her “assault weapons” ban once again:

“Do you need a 30 round clip and an AR-15 to hunt? …I don’t understand, and I never have, why this nation is better, how we protect our nation better, with these weapons available.”

“So the bill I have, which is close [to what they just instituted in Connecticut], really doesn’t take a weapon away from anybody. If they sell that weapon there’s a background check. If they keep that weapon, it has to be kept with a trigger lock and in a safe. And it exempts 2,258 weapons in 96 pages of bill language by make and model. What it does do, is dry up of the supply [of these weapons] over time.”

On the whole “ban private sales because of terrorism” thing, isn’t that prior restraint? You can’t stop somebody from engaging in lawful commerce simply because they might do something criminal with what they’re purchasing. Otherwise we’d be trying to ban booze sales because a given purchaser might drink and drive.

Which brings up another point. How exactly would Senator Feinstein go about preventing private gun sales? The federal government wasn’t exactly gangbusters when it came to stopping private alcohol sales during prohibition. Banning private gun sales would only ensure that a lot of gun sales happen illegally.