During his CNN town hall on Sunday, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Seth Moulton (MA) was asked what he would do to combat the gun violence problem in America. Naturally, Moulton ran with the typical anti-gun talking points, despite being a former member of the military.
"It's almost embarrassing to be standing here as a member of Congress even how little we've done about gun violence in America," Moulton said. "I carried guns In Iraq every single day, two. I had to use guns for my job. Guns saved my life. But weapons of war have no place on our streets or in our schools."
Moulton said he'd be open to taking executive action on the "gun violence plague" that's taking place in our country.
"What we're talking about here, folks, isn't that crazy. The vast majority of Americans – Democrats, Republicans, Independents – agree that we should have universal background checks on guns, that there shouldn't be loopholes," he explained. "I had the two most bi-partisan gun bills in Congress. One was to ban bump stocks, which the NRA has already banned from their own headquarters, and the second was – and be prepared, this is a little bit controversial – was to prevent terrorists from buying guns. Okay, this isn't that crazy."
There are so many things wrong with what he said.
"Weapons of war" usually mean fully-automatic firearms, otherwise dubbed "assault weapons" and machine guns. One trigger pull means an infinite number of rounds are shot (basically, until you run out of ammo). Moulton must not know that these firearms are illegal for purchase. Everything that's available on the market are semi-automatics, where one round is fired per trigger pull. These so-called "weapons of war" aren't on our streets or in our schools. He's referring to AR-15s, the civilian version of M16s. They function differently and have a longer barrel.
People who like the idea of universal background checks don't know that only 38 states provide 80 percent of their felony convictions to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which means the system is incomplete. What good is having a background checks system if there's a large portion of information missing? Expanding a failed system is useless.
Apparently Moulton missed the memo about the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) banning bump stocks. That was something done by the Trump administration and backed by the NRA. The NRA doesn't "ban them from their own headquarters," as he suggests. They're actually illegal to own, as of March 21. But apparently bringing up the NRA and any bit of disdain for the gun rights group is a win with anti-gunners.
When he talks about "preventing terrorists from buying guns" he's referring to "no fly, no buy," which would make it illegal for a person to purchase firearms if he or she is on the no fly list. Gun rights groups were against this measure because there's absolutely no due process. Someone could be placed on this list for whatever reason the airlines deem necessary and there's no review process. There's no appeals process. It's final. Why should someone's Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms be connected to that? It's unconstitutional.
Before Moulton makes himself look like a military guru who knows anything and everything about guns, he should probably do his homework. He's making a mockery out of himself...and veterans.
Rep. Seth Moulton on gun violence in America: "It's almost embarrassing standing here as a member of Congress ... I carried guns in Iraq every single day ... weapons of war have no place on our streets or in our schools" https://t.co/Nd8NBTtGhA # CNNTownHall pic.twitter.com/ISJ1U7ZHbi
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) June 2, 2019