AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

Sen. Cory Booker is a presidential candidate, so we shouldn’t actually expect him to speak truth. At all.

However, it would be nice if he didn’t completely ignore reality. For example, take this tweet from a couple of days ago.

Gun violence is the second-highest cause of death among young people, but it doesn’t need to be this way. We can save lives by implementing commonsense measures like my proposal for gun licensing—because if you need a license to drive a car, you should need one to own a gun. https://t.co/1EGVYrp4SR

— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) July 17, 2019

Well, first, this study has already been debunked.

Second, let’s talk about his claim that licensing will somehow save lives. Over at Breitbart, A.W.R. Hawkins offers this thought:

He did not mention Illinois requires all gun owners to be licensed, yet Chicago witnessed at least 41 people shot between July 12-14, 2019, 66 were shot over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and at least 56 were shot during the last weekend in June 2019.

Moreover, Booker consistently references gun crime in Newark, New Jersey, in hopes of proving more gun control is needed. He does not mention that New Jersey licenses gun owners. In other words, New Jersey does exactly what Booker claims will save lives, yet the violence continues.

The man makes a point.

Further, a study by the ATF found that 93 percent of all guns used in crime were obtained illegally. This meshes with a Department of Justice study that found that most criminals obtain their guns on the black market. Further, the DOJ study found that most who don’t get them off the black market obtained them through some other illegal means.

So I would hope that Sen. Booker could explain to me just how in the hell licensing will stem the tide of gun violence when it hasn’t so far and when the criminals are buying from within an illegal system that by definition won’t adhere to new gun control laws. I’d love to hear that explanation.

I won’t hold my breath, though.

Booker isn’t talking about reality. No, he’s talking in the language of a candidate who will say anything to increase his share of the Democratic base at the expense of his opponents. I don’t blame him from trying to carve out a bigger chunk of the pie. I do blame him from completely ignoring reality in the process.

Gun licensing don’t do anything except make life more difficult for the law-abiding citizen who is looking to purchase a gun. It won’t stop criminals from buying and selling stolen or other illicitly trained firearms with one another.

Some think that’s Booker’s goal, though. They think that he wants to empower the criminals at the expense of the law-abiding citizens. I’m not willing to go that far, but I do think that Booker should take a long look in the mirror and determine whether he can understand why someone might think that. It would require a degree of self-honesty that I don’t think old Sparticus there has, but if he did then maybe, just maybe he’d knock off this nonsense.

Of course, that’s another thing I wouldn’t dare hold my breath waiting for. If I did, I’d be turning very, very blue and probably kill way too many brain cells waiting for something we all know will never happen.

Still, someone needs to remind Booker that reality isn’t flexible so he can’t twist it to fit his campaign.