Hours before he steps on stage in Las Vegas for a “gun violence forum” sponsored by March For Our Lives and Giffords, former Vice President Joe Biden has unveiled an 11-page gun control plan that includes a twist on the Eric Swalwell/Beto O’Rourke plan of banning guns deemed “assault weapons”, and demanding Americans turn them in to the government in exchange for some cash. Under Biden’s proposal, current owners of the guns Biden wants to ban would have to register their rifle under the National Firearms Act or hand the guns over to the government in exchange for some cash.

Biden also wants to include “high capacity magazines” in his proposal, which shows he and his advisors are looking for headlines, not real answers to address violent crime. How would someone register a firearms magazine under the NFA? It’s not like magazines come stamped with a serial number or any other unique identifier. Joe doesn’t say how this proposal would work, and I doubt he’s going to get grilled on it at today’s gun control jamboree.

Other proposals floated by Biden in his plan include limiting gun purchases to one-per-month, restoring the gun ban for those receiving help managing their finances from the Social Security Administration, ending “all online sales of firearms, ammunition, kits, and gun parts”, incentivizing state gun licensing regimes, pushing for “smart guns”, a federal gun storage law, as well as a federal “lost or stolen” reporting requirement.

Additionally, Biden says he wants to require purchasers of “gun kits or 3D printer code” to pass a background check, which will be awfully difficult to enforce.

This is what passes for “moderation” on gun control in today’s Democrat Party. Biden’s plan would allow owners of so-called “assault weapons” to continue to own them, wouldn’t institute a federal gun license, and doesn’t call for increased taxes on firearms and ammunition or attempt to institute a “microstamping” or bullet serialization law. It would still violate the constitutional rights of Americans in several ways; from banning the most commonly sold rifle in the country to rationing the right to keep arms to one firearm per month.

How would Biden pay for his compensated confiscation program? According to Axios, “a senior Biden campaign official said it’d be funded “by making sure the super-wealthy and corporations pay their fair share.”

What does that even mean? Let’s say Joe Biden is able to move forward with his ban on magazines with a capacity of more than ten rounds. There could be as many as a billion “large capacity magazines” in the hands of legal gun owners at the moment. Heck, it’s estimated that one million of these magazines were sold to California residents in just one week earlier this year. At ten bucks a magazine, does Joe Biden really think he’s going to get the $10-billion needed just to buy up privately owned magazines by “making sure the super-wealthy and corporations pay their fair share”?

These are soundbite solutions, not serious policy proposals. Unfortunately, seriousness is in short supply when it comes to anti-gun politicians and their gun control plans. They’re far more interested in “doing something” they believe to be politically popular than in doing anything to substantively address the individuals perpetrating acts of violence.