Ever get the feeling that gun controllers are just pulling their talking points and legislative ideas out of their rear ends? Maybe the better question is “how often do you feel that way”, because I’m pretty sure that every Second Amendment advocate has been left scratching their heads in confusion at some point thanks to the bizarre mandates and weaponized ignorance routinely displayed by the gun prohibition crowd.

Take the new Safe Storage Saves Lives Act authored by anti-gun progressive congresscritter Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, which would mandate that every gun store in the country carry locking devices compatible with each firearm they offer for sale. According to Tlaib and co-sponsor Maxwell Frost, the legislation is just a “common sense” and “reasonable” requirement for FFLs that could save hundreds of lives each year, but the two are either unaware or just don’t care about the fact that gun locks are already available free of charge for anyone who wants one.

The proposed legislation, known as the ‘‘Safe Storage Saves Lives Act,’, makes it a “requirement that a gun seller have a compatible gun lock available for every firearm for sale” and states that it “shall be unlawful for any person to offer a firearm for sale unless the person offers for sale a secure gun storage or safety device that is compatible with the firearm.”

The bill states that violators of the law would face a “penalty of not more than $1,000.”

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In a statement to Fox News Digital, the National Rifle Association said Tlaib’s bill would set up an unnecessary requirement because gun manufacturers are already doing this.

“Rep. Tlaib isn’t educated on this topic,” the NRA said. “Firearm manufacturers already provide a lock with every gun that is sold, and anyone looking for additional gun locks can get them free through Project Childsafe, an industry program that provides free gun locks to anyone who wants one.”

Is that true? I suppose there could be some smaller manufacturers who don’t include a cable lock with every firearm purchase, but the NRA is right about the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Project ChildSafe, which offers free cable locks to gun owners throughout the country in partnership with local law enforcement. Even if your local police department doesn’t take part in the program, there may be statewide resources that are partners with the NSSF. My rural sheriff’s department isn’t listed on the NSSF’s website, for instance, but the site does list the office of Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears as a source for the free cable locks, which I imagine are available to anyone in the state who wants one.

In addition to Project Childsafe providing millions of free locks to gun owners, I’d be surprised to find a gun store that didn’t carry cable locks and other storage devices already, to be honest. I know my own local independent shop carries cable locks as well as gun safes; not because Big Brother demands it, but because many of their customers are interested in these products.

As far as anti-gun bills go, Tlaib’s isn’t as onerous as, say, making it a federal felony to purchase or possess the most commonly-sold rifles in the country, but it’s still a top-down mandate when what’s really needed is better education and outreach to parents, especially in those communities where the gun control lobby has largely succeeded in making legal gun ownership taboo; choking off educational and training resources that are more widely available in places where gun ownership hasn’t been denormalized and demonized. Tlaib might even find bipartisan support for that idea, unlike her heavy-handed mandate. But maybe that’s the whole idea; to use this bill to claim Republicans don’t care about kids getting ahold of a gun if her proposal is voted down, rather than come up with a bill that both Republicans and Democrats could support. I’d love to see someone like Rep. Andrew Clyde tweak Tlaib’s proposal and offer a bill of his own that would do just that, which would not only take the wind out of the sails of the gun prohibitionists but would actually do far more to help keep kids safe from unattended and unsecured firearms.