Gunning for the Ammo

Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut is introducing legislation to require the same background checks for the purchase of ammunition as are required for the purchase of firearms.

Were it were not part of the current gun-grabbing agenda, I might possibly be able to support it.

But, given the rousing support it has instantaneously elicited from the hoplophobes of all stripes, one must conclusively conclude that it IS part of the hoplophobe's plan to abridge everyone's Second Amendment rights.

Blumenthal's implicit argument is that if we control the sale of ammunition, then people who shouldn't have ammunition will not be able to obtain ammunition.

It must be remembered, however, that the people who shouldn't have ammunition are the same people who shouldn't have firearms.  I therefore will posit the query of why is this legislation necessary if the people who shouldn't have ammunition are the same ones who do not have guns.

The hoplophobes must then concede that the law which prohibits the people who shouldn't have guns does not necessarily stop them from obtaining the guns into which the ammunition they illegally obtain is loaded.

Blumenthal's proposed legislation, then, is an effective admission that gun control legislation does not keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals.