A Democrat Senator tweeting out a call for another “assault weapons” ban is hardly remarkable. It’s one of those rote talking points they all keep in their rhetorical quivers, ready to pull out at a moment’s notice if, say, there’s a TV camera within the immediate area…or a red-shirted wine mom approaching him on the street or in the halls of the Hart Senate Office Building.
Senator, what do you propose to do about the rash of gun violence plaguing our cities, places like Baltimore?
“Well, harrumph, you know, harrumph, harrumph, I’ve always been squarely against gun violence as my aides and my campaign brochures have made perfectly clear. Harumph! Weapons of war have no place on our — harrumph — streets and if it weren’t for the GOP’s intransigence, harrumph, we’d have enacted another assault weapons ban that — harrumph — would prevent this kind of needless bloodshed. Harrumph!”
It’s not exactly newsworthy that Maryland’s superannuated senior Senator, Ben Cardin, who’s been doddering around the Senate since the year Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone, tossed that one out on Twitter (X, whatever) yesterday. He’s probably repeated something to that effect hundreds of times to thunderous applause.
But Cardin — or more likely a milennial intern in his office who actually knows what the internet is and how it works — didn’t limit that tweet to just calling for an “assault weapons” ban. He also said he wants a ban on “high-ammo stocks.”
Yeah, it isn’t exactly clear what that means. Given the poor use of the English language there, it seems a good bet that the intern who wrote that is an Ivy League graduate. And once again, another anti-gun Democrat self-identifies as utterly ignorant about all things firearm-related. But we can certainly make some educated assumptions about Cardin’s intent here.
Maybe this is some kind of plea for magazine capacity limits. Maybe. But we think it’s likely the 80-year-old legislator is terribly bothered by the fact that Marylanders — and all Americans, for that matter — have so much freedom that they can actually choose to buy and store as much ammunition as they’d like. He appears to want to limit the amount of gun food people can buy at one time and then keep on hand.
It seems a sure thing he’d love to run a background check each time someone buys ammunition. Because if it’s already a law in California, it’s damn-well good enough to inflict on the rest of the nation. So by all means, let’s do that.
But take another look at the wording of the tweet. It’s not just limiting how much tou can buy. He also seems all hot and bothered about “high-ammo stocks.” But using our best interpretive skills, it seems safe to infer that Cardin would very much like to limit that amount of ammo people can keep on hand. Their ‘stocks,’ in other words.
How does the confused old man propose to enforce such a law? He doesn’t say, of course. Out here in the real world, we know there’s no practical way to do that without law enforcement popping in from time to time to see how many rounds you’ve got stashed in your ammo cans.
That would require a warrant, naturally…unless the Senator wants to sidestep little niceties like the Fourth Amendment (and we have no doubt at all he’d love to do exactly that). And then there’s the whole Bruen thing. America has no history or tradition at all of limiting how much ammunition you can keep on hand, so good luck clearing that legal hurdle with legislation that would do that.
Let’s not get too worked up, though, over a Mothers Day evening tweet full of standard anti-gun talking points, the meaning and implications of which neither the octogenarian Senator or anyone in his office really understands. The old man long ago announced that he’s not running for reelection so nothing he says or does at this point in an election year really carries much weight.
There’s a hotly contested race going on to replace Cardin with a standard-issue, interchangeable Democrat or Maryland’s squishy former GOP governor. In a deep blue state like Maryland, whichever way the election winds blow, whoever takes that Senate seat is likely to be some version of Cardin 2.0…just a quarter century or so younger.
And so it goes.
12 Responses
“But using our best interpretive skills, it seems safe to infer that Cardin would very much like to limit that amount of ammo people can keep on hand. Their ‘stocks,’ in other words.”
I only have enough ammo on hand to fill the sealed surplus ammo cans I have on hand.
And if I wanna buy more ammo cans and fill them with ballistic goodness, I shall… 😉
By golly, Geoff, you just formulated the foundation for an ammo- based economy: create the need for ammo by expanding the capacity for storage!! Brilliant!!!
Now, to put it into practice!
Cabela’s occasionally puts their brand-new .50-cal ammo cans on sale for $10. I bought a half-a-dozen…and promptly filled them.
But I pinky-swear I only filled ’em with fluffy bunnies and bricks of gold unicorn poop.
Age doesn’t mean he knows better. He should know better, but he doesn’t.
People like this should keep quiet. It encourages me (and others, no doubt) to log on to ammoseek to locate and order desired ammunition, usually in thousand round blocks.
Johnny LeBlanc,
Yes!!
As the currency and the supply chain collapse, the new currency will consist of food, water purification, and ammo.
Been buying and caching since the 80s. Thank goodness for GPS.
I wish the “I’m not a witch” gal had defeated him!
Typical Leftist. Blame things for the ills of society is morally and intellectually bankrupt.
“Age doesn’t mean he knows better.”
The saying is that wisdom comes with age. But we all know that sometimes age comes to the party alone.
The old black on white Mayyland license plates
displayed the watchwords….”The Free State,
Ha!”