For weeks we’ve heard from President Obama and his allies like Senator Dianne Feinstein and Attorney General Eric Holder about new “commonsense” gun control measures, but what do they really mean? The NRA is out with a new ad detailing how a new assault weapons ban would need to be enforced in order to be effective. The ad cites an internal Department of Justice memo saying the only way an assault weapons ban will have an impact is if gun confiscation and mandatory gun buybacks are also implemented. In addition, President Obama’s calls for universal background checks would require gun registration.

Just two weeks ago, Vice President Joe Biden said new gun control proposals wouldn’t do much to stop mass shootings. The Clinton Justice Department concluded the same thing about the original assault weapons ban.

Vice President Joe Biden acknowledged that new gun laws would not “fundamentally alter” the likelihood of another mass shooting, though he insisted there has been a “sea change” in American views on guns in the wake of Newtown.

“Nothing we’re going to do is going to fundamentally alter or eliminate the possibility of another mass shooting or guarantee that we will bring gun deaths down to 1,000 a year from what it is now,” Biden told reporters Thursday afternoon after he spent over an hour lunching with Democratic senators at the Capitol.