State Sen. Phil Fortunato, R-Auburn, has introduced legislation in advance of the 2019 legislative session that would require lawmakers who draft gun legislation to be trained and pass a test.

“We have legislators drafting bills who have no idea how firearms work or any sense of firearm nomenclature,” Fortunato said. “When decision makers want to restrict someone’s constitutional rights, they shouldn’t go off half-cocked.”

Fortunato’s bill would require legislators who want to draft legislation to pass the state’s criminal justice firearms training for each firearm they wish to regulate. In addition to classroom and live-fire requirements, legislators would also need to pass range safety officer training, and be able to pass a knowledge test for calibers and gauges of firearms.

Fortunato points to actual quotes from anti-gun politicians to demonstrate the need for better education of policymakers.

“A weapon (AR-15) that shoots off 700 rounds in a minute.” – former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Florida.

A ghost gun that “has the ability, with a .30-caliber clip, to disperse with 30 bullets within half a second; 30 magazine clip in half a second.” – California state Sen. Kevin de Leon (D).

“…number of these high-capacity magazines is going to decrease dramatically over time because the bullets will have been shot and there won’t be any more available…” – U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colorado.

“We have federal regulations and state laws that prohibit hunting ducks with more than three rounds. And yet it’s legal to hunt humans with 15-round, 30-round, even 150-round magazines.” – U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California.

“I guess no one told Sen. Feinstein that it’s illegal to hunt humans,” Fortunato added. “I just think that it is fair to require some competency training for legislators so they can better understand what the heck they are talking about.”