AP Photo/Michael Conroy

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is one of the longest-shots for president getting media attention right now. The only other long shot I can think of is the mayor of Miramar, Florida, who seems to think he has a chance. Anyway, Buttigieg is running and is getting at least some media attention, enough so that one can’t rule him out as a candidate completely.

The fact that he’s following Sen. Cory Booker’s lead on guns, however, just might.

After months of mounting criticism for lacking policy specifics, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has finally fleshed out his position on 27 different issues with a new issues page on his website, divided among the three major themes of his campaign: democracy, security and freedom.

The South Bend, Indiana, mayor is staking out a new position in favor of creating a nationwide gun licensing system, or registry. This puts Buttigieg in line with Cory Booker’s proposal and among the most liberal positions on gun control in the Democratic race. Previously, Buttigieg had been criticized by gun control advocates for being too soft on guns or being wishy-washy.

So, he combats that “wishy-washy” and “soft” label by going full-on stupid.

How many different ways do we have to tell these people that licensing only creates burdens on law-abiding citizens, negatively impacts the poor, and increases the overall bureaucracy while doing nothing to stem the tide of criminals obtaining guns?

For the learning impaired–and this apparently applies to every Democrat running for president–criminals don’t go to gun stores, by and large. They know they won’t pass a background check. So, they use other means. According to the Department of Justice, that’s going to the black market more often than not.

Guess who doesn’t require a license or a background check?

Look, I get the desire to try and keep guns out of criminals’ hands. I get it. I do.

If I honestly thought any of these measures might help, I’d be more than willing to at least discuss them. But the truth is that we’ve seen criminals continue to get armed and no law does anything to stop them from doing so, all while we are left with the burden.

People who want to purchase a firearm get treated like criminals. People like Buttigieg and Booker want us fingerprinted, have mugshots taken, and interviewed, all so we can exercise a constitutionally-protected right. It’s obscene, especially since we all know that the criminals won’t be affected.

“Oh, but if we make it more difficult for law-abiding people to get guns, that’ll make it harder for the criminals by extension,” someone might argue.

My answer is to point out the drug problem in this country. These drugs have been outlawed for decades, and yet, criminals still get those easily enough. Who’s stupid enough to believe that those same pipelines wouldn’t bring guns into the country?

None of those guns would require licensing either.

Buttigieg and Booker can pontificate about licensing gun owners all they want, but it’s not going to happen, it’s not going to work, and it’s not a winning strategy, no matter how they try to spin it.