Biden Moves on the Second Amendment

President Joe Biden (D) published a list of coming gun-control executive actions on the White House’s website. This opening salvo in his administration’s war on American freedom is so dishonest and loaded with disinformation, we decided to break it down for you.

In its title, this “Fact Sheet” calls this list his administration’s “initial actions” on what he plans to do to the Second Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights. This clearly is the opening fusillade from the Biden administration in this larger struggle to over our civil liberties.

“Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing six initial actions to address the gun violence public health epidemic,” begins the document.

So right away, we know that once again the Biden administration wants to frame this, not as the civil-liberties battle it is, but as a “public-health” issue, as if guns are a virus. Unlike diseases and epidemics, guns save a lot of lives. This is why gun sales have been breaking records as millions of Americans have suddenly become first-time gun buyers. Guns, again unlike illnesses, are equalizers that single mothers, the elderly, and anyone else can use to protect themselves. That’s empowerment of each law-abiding individual, not a disease.

This document from the White House then says that “cities across the country are in the midst of a historic spike in homicides, violence that disproportionately impacts Black and brown Americans. The President is committed to taking action to reduce all forms of gun violence – community violence, mass shootings, domestic violence, and suicide by firearm.”

It doesn’t explain that many city officials stood back and allowed downtowns to be looted and burned. It doesn’t cite the many criminals, including those with convictions for violent offenses, who were released during this pandemic. It doesn’t accept any accountability for the situation it was a part of creating. Instead, it just blames American freedom for this rise in violence.

This press release from the Biden administration then lists gun-control laws it wants Congress to punish law-abiding gun owners with, such as, so-called “universal background checks,” bans on popular semi-automatic rifles, pistols, shotguns, and “high-capacity” magazines, a repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) so activists can use lawsuits to bankrupt gun manufacturers and dealers--not because they did anything illegal, but because some criminal did--and more.
It then says, “But this Administration will not wait for Congress to act… .”

Of the six executive actions, four pose an immediate danger to the rights of law-abiding gun owners:

1.  The Justice Department, within 30 days, will issue a proposed rule to help stop the proliferation of “ghost guns.”
   
   (For a realistic view of what gun-control activists have labelled “ghost guns,” see this story from NRA-ILA.)
   
   

2. The Justice Department, within 60 days, will issue a proposed rule to make clear when a device marketed as a stabilizing brace effectively turns a pistol into a short-barreled rifle subject to the requirements of the National Firearms Act. 

   (We’ll have more on this complicated topic shortly.)

3. The Justice Department, within 60 days, will publish model “red flag” legislation for states. 

   (Red flag laws, sometimes known as Emergency Risk Protection Orders, are a relatively new type of law pushed by gun control advocates to allow states to seize firearms without due process of law.)

4. The President will nominate David Chipman to serve as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. 

   (Chipman, after serving at the ATF, became a “senior adviser” for the gun-ban group Mayors Against Illegal Guns before joining the gun-ban group Giffords in 2016 as a “senior policy adviser.” Chipman has written a lot of opinion pieces calling for more restrictions on our right to keep and bear arms. If he is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he will be a gun-ban activist at the head of the agency tasked with enforcing many of our nation’s gun laws.)

There is a lot here to talk about, and we’ll continue to keep you informed here at A1F.com.