No one in their right mind would mistake Connecticut for a state like Texas or Georgia. Even if you ignore the weather, the gun laws in place there are very different from what many see in places like the Deep South.

After all, folks down here aren’t big fans of gun control.

Connecticut is, and they’ve passed plenty of it over the years to prove that point. Now, Gov. Ned Lamont is trying to push for still more and, unfortunately, he’s likely to get it.

Connecticut lawmakers are advancing Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal to close “loopholes” in the state’s gun control laws in response to a spate of mass shootings nationwide.

The legislation, which is teed up for a vote in the state Legislature, would tighten the state’s ban on “ghost” guns, increase the minimum age to buy a firearm to 21, prohibit open carry in public, ban the bulk purchase of handguns and expand the state’s restriction on large-capacity firearm magazines, among other changes.

The proposal, which was approved by the Judiciary Committee last week, must still be approved by the state Assembly and Senate before heading back to Lamont for consideration.

Lamont praised lawmakers for advancing the legislation, which he said would provide “a fair, commonsense balance that respects the rights of Americans to own guns for their own protection and sportsmanship while also acknowledging that we must take actions to protect the people who live in our communities.”

“Our public safety laws need to keep up with the innovative ways firearm companies are manufacturing guns, especially those that were invented with nothing but the sole purpose of killing as many people as possible within the shortest amount of time,” the Democrat said in a statement.

Except, these measures don’t balance rights with protection. They do nothing of the sort.

So-called ghost guns are already illegal in the state. Law-abiding citizens aren’t building them currently. The only people who are doing so are criminals. Those are the same people who will continue to do so.

Magazine restrictions don’t do a whole hell of a lot, either. After all, the Parkland killer used 10-round magazines and still committed an atrocity. Why would Connecticut’s stop wholesale slaughter when mass shooters don’t have to worry about being challenged?

Raising the age for long gun purchases isn’t a winning strategy, either. While I get the thinking–many mass shooters are under the age of 21–it’s at best a band-aid strategy based more on feelings than data. For example, the Violence Project reports that the median age for a mass shooter is 32. Further, long guns aren’t often used in violent crime at all.

So really, there’s nothing here that actually will do anything except to remind Connecticut gun owners and gun owners everywhere that once they start down the path of gun control, it never. Ever. Stops.

We see that in Connecticut just like we’ve seen it in Australia. We’ve seen it elsewhere as well.

Yet the sad reality is that many would give up their rights in exchange for safety, but even that safety is an illusion. Just look at what happened in California in January. They already have all of these laws on the books, yet they had two mass shootings just days apart.

Gun control isn’t the answer and it never was.