President Joe Biden is trying to take up as many unpopular and ineffective policies as possible ahead of the midterm elections. Naturally, that means he is once again turning to gun control.

Biden used the shooting in Buffalo, New York, to call for an assault weapons ban. This is one of Biden’s go-to proposals on gun control, even though handguns, not so-called “assault weapons,” are responsible for the vast majority of homicides. An assault weapons ban would do nothing to prevent the shooter from using handguns instead, as is the case in every other shooting Biden has used this stale talking point on.

In fact, an assault weapons ban didn’t prevent the Buffalo shooter from using an assault weapon. Because “assault weapon” is a political label imposed by politicians based on the cosmetic features of firearms, the restrictions from such a ban are arbitrary and can be easily circumvented. The Buffalo shooter did exactly that, taking a rifle that was compliant with New York’s assault weapon restrictions and altering it by removing the fixed 10-round magazine. This allowed the gun to use detachable magazines, in violation of the state’s law.

That wasn’t the only New York gun control law that failed. The state has a red flag law, which could have prevented the shooter from buying or owning firearms. When the shooter was a minor, he made comments about committing murder and suicide in response to a teacher’s question. But he was evaluated and cleared, and no school administrator, law enforcement official, or family member pursued the issue any further.

As with most mass shootings, Democratic gun control proposals would have done nothing to prevent the incident. In this case, as in the 2021 shooting in Boulder, Colorado, those gun control proposals were already law, and those laws failed to prevent the shooting. While the Democratic Party is hurtling toward an electoral wipeout in November, Biden wants to pick a fight over gun control, one of the Democratic Party’s worst losing issues.

While Biden tries to exploit this tragedy for a political foothold, the fact remains that nothing he is proposing would have prevented it. He is only proving once again that he is an insincere and ineffective president who does nothing but spout partisan talking points. This is why he is floundering and why the Democratic Party is in for a rough November.