Lawmakers push bills they have to know aren't going anywhere, and they do it all the time. Much of it is to keep attention on an issue. It's also handy as a means of making sure special interests keep those campaign coffers overflowing. Sometimes, they're just too stupid to know that they're just wasting their time with the bill.
It's also possible for there to be some combination of two or more of these factors at play.
I'm not sure which applies to New Jersey's senatorial delegation, but it's definitely a case of weapons-grade stupidity if they think this is going anywhere.
Sens. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) have introduced sweeping legislation that would fundamentally transform how Americans purchase firearms, requiring federal government approval before any citizen could legally acquire a gun.
The Federal Firearm Licensing Act, introduced on Dec. 17, 2025, would mandate that every American obtain a federal firearm license before purchasing or receiving any firearm. The proposal represents one of the most comprehensive federal gun control measures in recent years, establishing a nationwide licensing system that would place significant new requirements inbetween law-abiding citizens and their Second Amendment rights.
Under the proposed legislation, Americans would need to complete mandatory firearms safety training that includes both written testing and hands-on instruction before qualifying for a license. The Attorney General would conduct background checks on every applicant, and the FBI would perform regular compliance checks to monitor license holders. Each license would expire after five years, requiring gun owners to renew their permission to purchase firearms.
The bill would also fundamentally alter how Americans can buy and sell firearms privately. Unlicensed individuals could no longer transfer guns directly to other unlicensed individuals. Instead, all transactions would need to flow through licensed dealers who would conduct background checks. Selling or transferring a firearm to someone without a valid federal or state license issued within the previous 30 days would become illegal, with sellers required to report such transactions to law enforcement.
Honestly, this is precisely what will happen the moment Democrats have the power to make it happen. They want this so bad they can taste it. If they do so, we would, in effect, have gun registration without the registry.
Rather than registering guns, it would register gun owners, but it would only register lawful gun owners, not the criminals who create the problem in the first place.
Nothing about this would address crime. Guns would still be stolen. People who want to commit straw buys will still commit straw buys. Those who want to make guns illegally will still do so.
Nothing here would prevent any of that.
But it's also not about that, now is it? No, this is about control. This is about treating the right to keep and bear arms as a privilege instead of the God-given, constitutionally protected right it is. This is about stepping into the gun debate with a sledgehammer and destroying everything that makes this truly safe from tyranny.
If someone removes the safeguards put in place to prevent the rise of a tyrannical government, one must assume that their entire purpose is to bring about that tyrannical government.
It starts here. It won't end here, though.
Still, once they know who has the guns, they'll know who to see when they decide to round them up.
Luckily, right now, this doesn't have a shot in hell of passing. I'm not even sure a lot of Democrats are on board with something like this. Many will, of course, but this might be too much for others, at least right now.
I don't see it happening in the short term.
What will happen when Democrats have complete control of both chambers and the White House, though? Especially if they follow through on their court-packing threats? That could be a very different story.
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