It is exceptionally irritating when a “fact checker” lies. Especially when this “fact checker” is a company Facebook uses to censor content.
In this case, PolitiFact calls the claim that President Joe Biden (D) wants to ban 9 mm pistols “False.”
PolitiFact calls this claim “false” even though Biden once asked, while campaigning to be president, “Why should we allow people to have military-style weapons including pistols with 9 mm bullets and can hold 10 or more rounds?”
PolitiFact does acknowledge that Biden said this. They still call the claim “false” because they note that he wants to ban “high-capacity” magazines—which Biden defines as those that can hold 10 or more rounds—not necessarily 9 mm pistols.
Talk about a distinction without a difference. Most pistols sold today, whether chambered in 9 mm or for another cartridge, come standard with magazines that hold 10 or more rounds. Also, many of the pistols that don’t come with magazines that can take 10 or more rounds can accept magazines that do hold 10 or more rounds. So Biden’s ban would ban the vast majority of today’s pistols.
To make matters worse, Biden has doubled-down on his stated desire to ban 9 mm pistols, with no update from PolitiFact.
During a July 21 CNN “presidential town hall,” Biden stated, “The idea you need a weapon that can have the ability to fire 20, 30, 40, 50, 120 shots from that weapon, whether -- whether it’s a 9-millimeter pistol or whether it’s a rifle, is ridiculous. I’m continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things.”
Again, all semi-automatics that are designed to accept a detachable magazine have the “ability to fire” whatever number of rounds a magazine may hold. If Biden wishes to ban all firearms with the “ability” to do so, he must ban all firearms that accept a detachable magazine. Simply banning magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, as PolitiFact claims is “all” Biden wants to do, will not remove the “ability” to fire more than 10 rounds before reloading. Thus, to achieve his stated goal, he must ban the firearms themselves.
PolitiFact’s “fact checkers” must know that evasion of the truth is a form of lying.
Still, they actually call the NRA’s clear point that Biden said he wants to ban 9 mm pistols “False.”
PolitiFact is being more than misleading here. They are standing there in plain view of the facts and yelling “liar” at those who are pointing out the obvious truth.
