Twelve people were gunned down in Virginia Beach on Friday by one of their colleagues who had resigned that morning. Police are still searching for a motive. As is unfortunately typical, Democrats soon began talking about gun control as a solution. Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker was no exception this weekend when he joined CNN host Jake Tapper on "State of the Union." He probably wasn't expecting Tapper's tough line of questioning.
"How would your plan have stopped this tragedy?," the host asked.
"This idea that we are helpless to stop this, the evidence points differently," Booker said.
Tapper was of course eager for his guest to share that evidence.
"You keep saying we're not helpless, so I'm saying, what would have prevented this tragedy?," the frustrated host interjected.
Booker said he has "16 or 17 things" in his gun reform plan that would drop the levels of violence. He did provide a couple examples, such as the one handgun a month law, which limits handgun purchases to one per 30 days, and an increased investment in mental health.
He also mentioned federal gun licenses such as the ones Connecticut adopted supposedly to great success. The city of Oakland's plan to treat it like a public health problem also proved to be a huge help, he added.
Yes. But again, the question was about Virginia Beach.
Finally Tapper gave up, observing that Booker would not talk about the specific massacre in Virginia Beach, but his gun violence policies in general. So the rest of their chat was a general one.
The other kink in Booker's plan is whether or not it would ever see the light of day. His fellow 2020 Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden recently raised the constitutionality question on the campaign trail. The former vice president knows firsthand how difficult it is to enforce gun control, considering how he and President Obama failed to do so after the shooting at Sandy Hook.