Cory Booker just unveiled a plan that would make buying a gun a lot like getting a driver's license

Loren Elliott/Reuters

Sen. Cory Booker answers a question from an audience member during the She the People Presidential Forum in Houston, Texas, on April 24, 2019.

• Sen. Cory Booker on Monday announced an expansive new plan to combat gun violence.
• "The plan starts with a simple idea: if you need a license to drive a car, you should need a license to buy and possess a gun," Booker's 2020 campaign said in a press release.
• The plan also calls for universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, and an investigation into the National Rifle Association.
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Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey on Monday unveiled a new plan to combat gun violence that would make purchasing a firearm a lot like obtaining a driver's license.

"The plan starts with a simple idea: if you need a license to drive a car, you should need a license to buy and possess a gun," Booker's 2020 campaign said in a press release, which described his plan as "the most sweeping gun violence prevention proposal ever put forth by a presidential candidate."

Booker is calling for a national gun licensing program that would require anyone who wants to purchase a firearm to go to a designated local office to submit an application, submit fingerprints for an FBI background check, provide "basic background information," and "demonstrate completion of a certified gun safety course."

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If the FBI verified the submission of the required materials a license would then be issued and the person possessing it could "freely purchase and own firearms."

To bolster his case for this policy, Booker pointed to research that showed a 40% reduction in gun killings in Connecticut after it passed a law requiring a purchasing license for handguns.

Beyond the gun license requirement, here are the other key aspects of Booker's plan:

• Institute federal oversight over gun manufacturers via the Consumer Product Safety Commission to "ensure gun safety by making safety warnings and issuing recalls for faulty firearms."
• End legal immunity for gun manufacturers so that victims of gun violence can "have their day in court when a gun dealer or manufacturer has acted negligently."
• Make it easier for law enforcement to identify and trace the source of ammunition used in crimes via handgun microstamping technology, which makes a shell casing traceable to the specific gun that fired the round.
• End what is known as the "boyfriend loophole." Laws currently on the books prohibit a spouse or formerly married partner convicted of abuse or under a restraining order from purchasing a gun. But this does not extend to dating partners or former dating partners guilty of the same type of abuse and Booker wants to change that.
• Insitute universal background checks that would prevent people from privately purchasing firearms without a background check, which federal law currently allows in select circumstances.
• Ban assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and bump stocks.
• Provide federal funds for research on gun violence and increase funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
• Limit gun buyers to purchasing one handgun per month.
• Increase federal funding for local initiatives, including law enforcement programs, dedicated to addressing and combatting gun violence.
• Have the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigate the National Rifle Association (NRA) to conclude "whether certain activities recently reported in the news media should lead to revocation of its tax-exempt status." Booker did not elaborate on what "certain activities" means and his campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIDER.
• If elected, Booker pledged to take executive action on the first day of his presidency to implement a number of these policies.

"We will make it harder for people who should not have a gun to get one," Booker said in a statement summarizing his plan.

Booker added, "I am sick and tired of hearing thoughts and prayers for the communities that have been shattered by gun violence - it is time for bold action."

The NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIDER.