AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand used to be one of the rare pro-gun Democrats out there. For a long time, she boasted an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association, evidence that the group was pro-gun, not just pro-Republican. It’d back anyone who would support our right to keep and bear arms, as it should. Gillibrand was a supporter of that right.

Until she wasn’t.

Now, she’s running for president, and while she’s a longshot candidate, she’s obligated to spout the typical talking points. That includes introducing her own gun control plan.

 Presidential candidate Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said that she does not support creating a federal firearm licensing system.

“No, I think there is a better approach,” Gillibrand told the Washington Examiner at a campaign stop in Warner, N.H., on Saturday, when asked about a plan proposed by primary rival Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

“To end gun violence, I would do three things,” she said. “I would, No. 1, pass universal background checks, which are commonsense and supported by 70% of America.”

Her second move would be a federal law against trafficking guns. “Because for cities like Newark, N.J., and cities like New York City, the guns are trafficked from out of state into the hands of criminals. And those networks aren’t even a federal crime,” she said.

“And third, I would ban the bump stocks, the large magazines, and the military-style assault weapons.”

Of course, talk about a milquetoast plan, at least as Democratic candidates go.

However, it’s important to note that she’s one of the few Democrats who has come out against Booker’s national licensing plan. The other, oddly, is Beto O’Rourke.

That’s about where Gillibrand stops talking sense.

Universal background checks haven’t been shown to have any effect at all. At best, there’s a corollary that suggests a modest drop in crime rates, but even the experts won’t say it’s because of universal background check laws. That’s probably because we know that criminals buy their guns on the black market and through other illegal means.

The biggest concern is the idea of a federal law against “trafficking guns.”

The problem is that states like New Jersey are already notorious for arresting people passing through the state with firearms and ammunition legal anywhere else but not in there. Officers pull them over, search the vehicle, find hollowpoint ammo or something else legal elsewhere, then arrest them. What Gillibrand is suggesting would become yet another law used to screw over law-abiding citizens in these states’ war against lawful gun owners.

Then, of course, we have the banning of bump stocks which are already banned, as well as magazine restrictions which are arbitrary and not necessarily useful for anything except getting in the way of law-abiding citizens and their need for self-defense, and the banning of so-called “military-style assault weapons.”

In other words, Gillibrand’s hitting the major talking points for Democratic voters. Nevermind that we had an assault weapon ban that also limited magazine capacity for a decade and it had no noticeable impact on crime in this country. Nope, let’s not worry about that.

For all the rhetoric about courageously standing up to the gun lobby, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand is a prime example of cowardice in lawmaking. She folded on gun rights the moment she started looking at higher office, all so she could pander to anti-gun urban elites and now the Democratic base.