President Joe Biden (D) recently announced he is putting forward yet another anti-Second Amendment nominee to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
With the nomination of Steve Dettelbach, it’s again important to review what Biden has to say about your Second Amendment rights, so that we may stay informed and fight the inevitable lies that will show up in the media throughout Dettelbach’s nomination process.
Perhaps his favorite falsehood, Biden likes to say that the firearms industry has special protections, as he claims that it is “the only industry in America that can’t be sued.” In reality, firearms manufacturers can, in fact, be sued should a product be defective or violate other product liability regulations, as can a gun maker or dealer if it breaks a law. Manufacturers and dealers cannot, however, be sued simply for the criminal misuse of a product thanks to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).
In his State of the Union address last month, Biden also asked Congress to pass “proven measures to reduce gun violence.” First, of course, guns are not violent; people can be, so the term “gun violence” is misleading. Secondly, Biden failed to cite any proof in support of his so-called “proven measures.” He instead listed his desire for a so-called “universal” background check law, bans on countless semi-automatic firearms and the standard-capacity magazines that come with most of them, and his desire to repeal the PLCAA.
On the issue of background checks, Biden even went a step further by saying that “most people don’t know: If you walk into a store and you buy a gun, you have a background check. But you go to a gun show, you can buy whatever you want and no background check.” You guessed it; this is not true. Federal law requires licensed dealers to initiate a background check wherever they sell a gun, including at gun shows.
So-called “universal” background checks, of course, simply target law-abiding gun owners and entirely neglect the criminal element of society. “Deceptively marketed to the public as a way to keep guns from dangerous people, ‘universal’ background check legislation is instead a broadside against lawful firearm ownership in America, setting cruel traps for common and innocent firearm-related conduct and banning an entire class of law-abiding adults from certain gun purchases,” wrote the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (ILA).
Biden’s ban on specific firearms and what he labels “high-capacity” magazines are also misleading. On magazine capacity, he argues that nobody needs 100 rounds, but in reality, his ban would affect any magazine holding more than 10 rounds, not 100.
And when it comes to banning certain firearms—which are mislabeled as “assault weapons”—Biden cites the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. That 10-year ban, however, had no impact on crime according to a congressionally mandated study of the legislation.
And finally, Biden often likes to finish with the biggest whopper of them all. “Nothing—nothing I’m about to recommend in anyway impinges on the Second Amendment.” Nearly every proposal the president supports would infringe on the right to keep and bear arms, and Biden must know this. His nomination of Dettelbach is just one more example of an attempt to infringe on our rights.
Predictably, Dettelbach is in lockstep with Biden on these views. That’s why it’s so important to be informed and to combat the mistruths that this administration routinely spews. The real truth is that Biden will continue to lie—without any pushback from much of the mainstream media—as he hopes that most Americans simply don’t know the truth.
Just as the NRA led the way in defeating Biden’s previous anti-gun nominee to lead the ATF, David Chipman, it will be important to make your voice heard and to stand up against Biden’s latest attempt to place an extremist at the head of the ATF.
