With 2021 in the rearview mirror, and the first anniversary of the Biden presidency nearing, it is useful to remember what President Joe Biden (D) has said about the Second Amendment since assuming office.
1.) During a CNN “town hall” meeting in late July, Biden implied that he hoped to outlaw America’s most-popular handgun: the 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, a handgun so popular it is possessed by millions of Americans for home self-defense and concealed carry.
“The idea you need a weapon that can have the ability to fire 20, 30, 40, 50, 120 shots from that weapon, whether it’s a 9 mm pistol or whether it’s a rifle, is ridiculous,” said Biden. “I’m continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things.”
2.) Biden has a definite animus towards the firearms industry, too.
“We should also eliminate gun manufacturers from the immunity they received,” Biden said during a Rose Garden speech in April. “What people don’t realize: The only industry in America that can’t be sued ... are gun manufacturers.”
This is patently untrue. Firearms manufacturers can be sued for product liability violations just like manufacturers in any other industry. There are restrictions, however, for suing them for the criminal misuse of their products, thanks to protections from the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Imagine, for example, a family suing an automotive manufacturer because a drunk driver killed that family’s relative while driving that particular brand of car. That’s essentially the legal situation Biden wants gun makers to face.
3.) Also, in April, Biden discussed his proposed “assault weapon” and “high-capacity” magazine bans during a joint session of Congress, during which he claimed: “We’ve done it before, and it worked.” Biden was, of course, referring to the 1994 federal ban on semi-automatic firearms that categorized them according to cosmetic features, such as pistol grips and detachable magazines. That ban also forbade the sale of magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammo.
The ban on “assault weapons” and “high-capacity magazines” was passed, yet in what sense did it work? The law was passed to supposedly reduce violent crimes, but as we’ve noted here at A1F.com: “A congressionally mandated study of the federal ‘assault-weapon ban’ of 1994 to 2004 found that the ban had no impact on crime. It concluded: ’Should it be renewed, the ban’s effects on gun violence are likely to be small at best.’” Additionally, research conducted later by the Rand Corporation found no conclusive evidence that banning so-called “assault weapons” or “large-capacity” magazines had any effect on either mass-murder events or violent crime.
4.) “The second thing is, [we must] close what is known as the ‘Charleston loophole,’” Biden said during a White House gun-control speech. “There’s a process. If [it] wasn’t done in three days, according to [the] Charleston loophole, you get to buy the gun.”
In truth, what Biden and other gun-ban proponents call the “Charleston loophole” is a safeguard built into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) that says if the FBI does not determine that an individual is statutorily prohibited from purchasing a firearm through the “instant” background check in three working days, the firearm licensee may proceed with the sale. That so-called “loophole” is the only thing standing between the ability to purchase a gun and the FBI being able to delay any and all gun sales indefinitely.
5.) In a rant about “high-capacity magazines that hold 100 rounds that can be fired in seconds,” Biden said, “Talk to most responsible gun owners, most hunters—they’ll tell you there’s no possible justification for having 100 rounds—100 bullets—in a weapon.”
Actually, the proposal the president and other gun-ban proponents continue to push is a law to ban magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, not 100. Furthermore, the Second Amendment protects the rights of all law-abiding gun owners, irrespective of whether or not they own those firearms for hunting. Biden’s constant focus on 100-round magazines and hunters is just a way to exaggerate and obfuscate the situation. His plan would ban the magazines that come standard with the majority of semi-auto rifles and handguns sold today—even sub-compact handguns popular for concealed carry.
6.) And given all Biden has said, done, and tried to do to strip away our Second Amendment rights, Biden still had the audacity to claim: “Nothing—nothing I’m about to recommend in any way impinges on the Second Amendment. They’re phony, arguments suggesting that these are Second Amendment rights at stake from what we’re talking about.”
With all due respect to the office of the presidency, that’s a lie. Almost every proposal Biden has made and supported would infringe on our right to keep and bear arms—exactly what the Second Amendment protects American citizens against.
Words matter. Quotes matter. And yes, the midterm elections coming this November will matter.
