With the Democratic National Convention taking place in Chicago, Ill., this week, the party has released its 2024 platform ahead of the event. Within its pages are some concerning statements about our Second Amendment-protected right to keep and bear arms.
In chapter five of the party’s platform, titled “Protecting Communities & Tackling the Scourge of Gun Violence,” it says: “[Joe Biden] defeated the gun lobby and passed the first significant gun safety law in nearly 30 years. And Democrats provided funding for communities to hire more police.”
It’s plainly untrue to say Joe Biden, particularly during his presidency, “defeated the gun lobby.” Since Biden took office, constitutional carry has expanded to 29 states, with over a dozen of those joining the fold during Biden’s presidency. The NRA was instrumental in passing each of these.
The NRA also weathered partisan political attacks from the New York attorney general, Letitia James (D), who failed in her attempt to dissolve this nation’s oldest civil-rights organization.
Beyond this, the U.S. Supreme Court issued the landmark decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), an NRA-backed case that affirmed our Second Amendment rights don’t end at our front doors.
“With [Biden’s] leadership, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), the first significant federal gun safety law in nearly 30 years.”
The BSCA is legislation that the NRA warned would be abused to target law-abiding gun owners. Unfortunately, this warning came to fruition as the BSCA has notably been interpreted by unelected bureaucrats to amend the definition of “engaged in the business” to include virtually anyone who transfers a firearm in order to require them to obtain a federal firearms license. This ridiculous misinterpretation is currently in legal limbo, as it faces challenges in the courts. The BSCA was also used in an attempt to withhold federal funding from schools that have archery and hunting programs, amongst other things.
“President Biden also established the first-ever White House Office of Gun Safety Prevention [sic] - led by Vice President Harris – and took nearly 40 gun safety executive actions.”
While the office is actually named the “White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention,” its policy prescriptions would better fit the “White House Office of Gun Safety Prevention” name as it was referenced in the document.
As for the actual office, Harris was tasked to lead this office that employs partisan gun controllers on the public dime. As Charles C.W. Cooke put it, writing for America’s 1st Freedom, “Despite its official-sounding title, it must be remembered that Biden’s ‘office’ is not an agency that has been approved and staffed by Congress, but a bunch of political partisans sitting around a desk. It must be treated as such. And, once its plan has been defeated, the next president must consign it to history.”
“Democrats will establish universal background checks.”
“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).
“We will once again ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”
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. On magazine capacity, Biden has argued that nobody needs 100 rounds, but in reality, his ban would affect any magazine holding more than 10 rounds, not 100. Furthermore, these magazines are commonly owned by countless law-abiding Americans.
“Democrats will end the gun industry’s immunity from liability so gunmakers can no longer escape accountability.”
This has long been a favorite claim of Biden’s, including him saying it would be the one thing he’d ask God for. 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).
“We will pass a national red flag law to prevent tragedies by keeping weapons out of dangerous hands.”
“Red-flag” laws also walk all over the right to due process, which is protected by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights. These laws typically permit the government to seize a person’s firearms and, thereby, at least temporarily take away a person’s Second Amendment rights. Their version of “due process” comes later.
“And, because the gun violence epidemic is a public health crisis, we will fund gun violence research across the Centers for Disease Control [sic] (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).”
Biden’s surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, declared “gun violence” to be a “public-health crisis” earlier this year. This is yet another partisan attempt to circumvent the legislative process in service of an agenda. Predictably, Murthy’s prescription for curing this “disease” are all the things Biden and Harris have called for in their administration.
“Contrary to the beliefs of many politicians, there is no provision within the American Constitution that renders its provisions irrelevant if someone says the words ‘public health,’” wrote Charles C.W. Cooke for America’s 1st Freedom.
“In President Biden’s second term, he will continue selecting judges who will protect fundamental rights and who represent the diversity of the American experience.”
In Biden’s second term? That’s interesting since the party kicked him off the ticket; in fact, this document speaks of Biden’s second term roughly 20 times, despite Kamala Harris being the party’s presumptive nominee with Biden dropping out of the race just shy of a month ago. This poorly written, dishonest document is a testament to the devastating policies a Harris-Walz administration would impose on law-abiding Americans.
The platform also took a moment to recognize that former President Trump spoke at the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits earlier this year in Dallas, Texas, as if that were a bad thing. In a stark contrast to Biden, Harris and Walz, Trump advocated for protecting Americans’ freedoms. “We will never give in. We will never give up ... . The great silent majority is rising like never before … . Thank you very much to the NRA,” said Trump.
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