“If I get one thing on my list—the Lord came down and said, ‘Joe, you get one of these’—give me that one. Because I tell you what, there would be a ‘come to the Lord’ moment these folks would have real quickly. But they’re not. They’re not. They’re exempt,” said President Joe Biden (D) when speaking about the firearms industry and his desire to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) during a press conference.
The press conference was filled with patently false statements about your Second Amendment rights. A1F.com has already detailed his biggest lies from that press conference, but we wanted to circle back, as Biden’s press secretary so often says, and address his call for divine intervention to functionally bankrupt the firearms industry.
It’s no secret that Biden has long sought to repeal the PLCAA. His website lists as much; he campaigned on it; and the White House website recently published yet another declaration of Biden’s dishonest attempt to have trial lawyers go after manufacturers with frivolous lawsuits.
Though the White House website tangentially touches on this, it is the first thing listed on Biden’s website. And now, he has said that this is the “one thing on [his] list” that he wants to get done.
Let’s rewind and review the PLCAA, which protects manufacturers from being held liable for the criminal misuse of their products. This would be akin to suing a knife manufacturer for when a criminal uses knives in crimes.
To be clear, as with other industries, firearms manufacturers can still be held liable for a number of other reasons, and they are not granted absolute immunities and exemptions as Biden would have you think. These manufacturers can still be sued should they violate standards surrounding sales and marketing of their products, if their products are found to be defective, and much more. They simply cannot be held liable for the criminal misuse of their firearms.
Imagine if every company or person could be held liable for every single criminal misuse of a product they make or sell. Those manufacturers, stores, and industries would be inundated with frivolous lawsuits that would functionally bankrupt them.
Therein lies Biden’s desire to repeal the PLCAA. It’s a dishonest, end-run around the Second Amendment. He wants to force firearms manufacturers out of business, which would functionally make the Second Amendment defunct.
“It is no exaggeration to say that while the Second Amendment protects your right to protect yourself, the PLCAA helps protect the Second Amendment. And it’s no coincidence that the same activists pushing for its repeal are also pushing for the end of private firearm sales and transfers, as this would be the easiest way to get guns if retail shops closed or refused to transact with the general public. If both were to become law, there would be no lawful way to transfer a firearm in America!,” wrote Jason Ouimet, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.
Americans clearly don’t want this. They purchased firearms in record-setting numbers last year; in fact, an estimated eight million were first-time gun owners.
The NRA’s A1F.com will keep you up to date on any actions the Biden administration takes on this and other Second Amendment-related issues.
