President Joe Biden (D) made clear his intent to push his anti-gun agenda in a press conference on June 23.
Biden’s speech on his “Crime-Prevention Strategy” outlined a number of curious strategies as part of his plan to combat the “epidemic of gun violence” in our nation. The president initially focused a lot of energy on “rogue gun dealers” that sell firearms to those who are prohibited from acquiring guns, an act that is already illegal for both parties.
Biden and his attorney general, Merrick Garland, actually listed a series of things that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is already tasked with doing. If the ATF isn’t currently tracing crime guns, inspecting gun dealers and more—as they are supposed to be doing—to catch and prosecute “rogue dealers” then Biden should have said so and explained what is needed to make the ATF do their job.
Biden did partially blame the COVID-19 pandemic for an uptick in crime, but he quickly called “gun violence” a “public-health crisis.” Of course, the president did not acknowledge the massive civil unrest in cities throughout last year or the decreased funding to law-enforcement units in some cities. Instead, he argued that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) needs to use public dollars to advocate for gun-control laws.
“Cynical politicians in many large cities chose to turn a blind eye to the mayhem; some even let radical groups set up so-called ‘autonomous zones,’” America’s 1st Freedom previously wrote in our analysis of what’s truly behind the rising crime rates.
As no Biden press conference on violent crime would be complete without the president running through his laundry list of rehearsed anti-Second Amendment lines, he said, “That means Congress passing sensible gun prevention, violence prevention initiatives makes sense: background checks, ban on assault weapons, repeal of the liability shield of gun manufacturers.”
The president also took a moment to prop up his nominee to lead the ATF, David Chipman, whom he called “eminently qualified.” We’ve covered Chipman extensively at A1F.com. Chipman is an anti-Second Amendment ideologue who is far from qualified to run the ATF.
Biden also pushed for the “development of smart gun technologies.” The White House also released a “fact sheet” earlier in the day, which outlined the president’s troubling plans, including many of his favorite falsehoods.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) tweeted, “The Biden Administration’s latest gun regulations open the door to a national gun registry.” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) echoed these sentiments in a tweet in which he said, “What’s Biden’s plan to deal with the crime wave? More gun control. The criminals won’t care. But it will impact your ability to defend yourself.”
Before departing, Biden was asked if he still hoped Congress could pass a new “assault weapons” ban.
“I never give up hope,” he replied.
