Yesterday, in another illustration of his

magical thinking about gun violence, Sen. Frank Lautenberg
(D-N.J.)
introduced a bill that would ban online sales of ammunition.
“If someone wants to purchase deadly ammunition,” Lautenberg

declared, “they should have to come face to face with the
seller. It’s one thing to buy a pair of shoes online, but it should
take more than a click of the mouse to amass thousands of rounds of
ammunition.” Lautenberg’s bill, the Stop Online Ammunition Sales
Act, would require ammunition sellers to have a firearms
dealer’s license, ask buyers for a photo ID, keep a record of
sales, and report purchases of more than 1,000 rounds within five
consecutive business days “to law enforcement.” Why? Because James
Holmes, the man accused of killing 12 people and injuring 58 at a
movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20, reportedly used the
Internet to buy 6,000 rounds.

Let’s think about the logic underlying this legislation for a
few moments. (It does not deserve more than that.) Did Holmes have
a photo ID? Was he ambulatory? Could someone who planned a mass
shooting for months have broken up his ammunition purchases to
avoid police attention (assuming that law enforcement agencies
actually would be investigating all mass buyers, almost all of whom
would turn out to be hunters or target shooters)? Yes on all three
counts. Lautenberg’s bill makes about as much sense as banning
orange hair dye.