In what universe is it reasonable for one individual to amass thousands of rounds of ammunition online without anyone so much as blinking an eye?

In 2012, James Holmes received six deliveries from an online retailer - 6,000 rounds - in the weeks before the bloody massacre that left a dozen people dead and 58 wounded in a Colorado movie theater.

The purchases were legal and aboveboard. The results, as we know now, were tragic.



U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12) has introduced a bill designed to stop a future James Holmes from building a similar arsenal. It's a gutsy move by the rookie congresswoman, and we give her enormous credit for making gun safety a priority on her legislative roster.

Watson Coleman's Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act of 2015 would require that federally licensed ammunition dealers confirm the identity of customers by verifying a photo identification card in person after a purchase is made.

The measure would also require online sellers to report sales of more than 1,000 rounds in five consecutive days, passing along identification of the buyer to the U.S. Attorney General if the buyer is not a dealer.

Announcing the bill at a news conference in Trenton last week, Watson Coleman said, "There are plenty of ways that we monitor the purchase of firearms, but when it comes to ammunition, regulation seems to stop."

Some 30 of her fellow Democrats have signed on to the legislation, including U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone.

Sadly, this isn't the first time Congress has tried to get a handle on unchecked online ammunition sales.

Soon after the Aurora shootings, a similar bill introduced by New Jersey's late Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) essentially went nowhere.

Last year, the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence filed a lawsuit on behalf of parents of a young woman who died in Holmes's rampage, charging negligence on the part of several of the suppliers involved.

"A crazed, homicidal killer should not be able to amass a military arsenal without showing his face or answering a single question, with the simple click of a mouse," said one of the Brady attorneys involved in the suit.

Could Watson Coleman's bill have prevented the carnage? Gun-rights advocates tell us it didn't take James Holmes 6,000 rounds to inflict massive damage, and that the bill would create a nuisance for legitimate collectors and hobbyists.

But if this NRA-controlled nation is going to make any improvements to its crazy quilt of gun safety regulations, we need to start somewhere. Thank you, Bonnie Watson Coleman, for leading us in the right direction.