“We beat the NRA,” said President Joe Biden (D) during a speech in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., earlier this week at a choreographed, campaign-style stop in Pennsylvania. This was one of many remarks Biden made during his attack on one of the oldest civil-rights organizations in the nation, law-abiding gun owners and more. Here are some of his quotes from his tirade against our freedom.
“I’m determined to ban assault weapons in this country, determined. I did it once before and I’ll do it again. For many of you at home, I want to be clear: It’s not about taking away anybody’s guns,” said Biden.
For starters, labeling these commonly owned, semi-automatic rifles as “assault weapons” is inaccurate and dishonest. The term itself is a “meaningless and politically elastic term,” as reported by the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (ILA); in fact, there are more than 24 million of these rifles currently in circulation throughout the country according to recent data from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF).
For Biden to say it’s “not about taking anybody’s guns,” while simultaneously seeking to ban more than 24 million of them from law-abiding gun owners, demonstrates his willingness to lie to the public in order to achieve his gun-control goals.
“You can’t go out and buy a cannon,” said Biden.
Well, you can go out and buy a cannon. Biden has said this before. As we reported last year when he said this: “The evidence is clear that ordinary citizens could and did buy cannons; in fact, many Americans own cannons today.”
“Americans who say it’s all about keeping America—keeping America as independent and safe: If you want to fight against a country, you need an F-15. You need something a little more than a gun,” said Biden.
Biden’s veiled threat of using military powers against civilians aside, the situation in Ukraine earlier this year shows just how powerful the civilian ownership of firearms can be.
Reporting from Ukraine for America’s 1st Freedom earlier this year, Susanne Edward wrote, “[T]he tragedy of Ukraine reinforces why the ‘right to keep and bear arms’ is pivotal to peace and national security in the present day.”
Returning to the line about F-15s, Biden has made similar remarks before. “That a prospective president of the United States would talk in this manner is, in and of itself, appalling. But that a man with more than 50 years’ worth of political experience remains unaware of the advantage that private gun ownership confers upon the citizenry is little short of astonishing,” wrote Charles C.W. Cooke for America’s 1st Freedom in reference to the prior comments.
“In 1994, I took on the NRA and passed the assault weapons ban. For 10 years, mass shootings were down,” said Biden.
Despite Biden’s repeated claims that the ban “worked,” the data paints a different picture. A congressionally mandated study, conducted after the ban on “assault weapons” expired in 2004, found that the policy had a negligible effect, at best.
Also, University of Pennsylvania researcher Christopher Koper, who authored the study, found that “the ban’s impact on gun violence is likely to be small at best, and perhaps too small for reliable measurement.”
“I’m proud that, after seven years, we finally have a Senate-confirmed director of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms responsible for fighting gun crime,” said Biden.
Biden lays his anti-gun agenda out in the open here, as his now-confirmed nominee to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is a known gun-control advocate. Steve Dettelbach, who was confirmed as ATF head a few months ago, is a “dedicated gun controller with a background that proves he would be neither fair nor objective as head of the ATF,” as reported by NRA-ILA.
“Mexico, which has real problems, causing us real problems, you know what their biggest complaint is? Can’t we stop gun trafficking across the southern border into Mexico?” said Biden.
It’s curious that Biden brings up illegal gun trafficking into Mexico when, during his time as vice president under then-President Barack Obama (D), the ATF concocted “Operation Fast and Furious,” which allowed criminals to buy and transport guns to Mexico.
In the disastrous “Operation Fast and Furious” scheme, ATF “[a]gents would allow suspected illegal purchases of firearms by gun traffickers to take place and then track the guns with the purported goal of uncovering the workings of a larger criminal organization for which these individuals were purchasing firearms. In some cases, concerned FFLs [federal firearms licensees] were instructed by ATF to go forward with suspicious transactions. Rather than interdicting these firearms, ATF permitted the guns to flow into Mexico,” per NRA-ILA.
As of 2016, the policy was linked to nearly 70 killings in Mexico, and to the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.
“How many deer or bear are wearing Kevlar vests, huh? Not a joke,” said Biden.
Biden insists on using this line over and over. It’s a strange line and, according to him, it’s not a joke either. He repeatedly uses this odd line in an attempt to divide gun owners.
“We let any stranger—an 18-year-old—walk in— a 20-year-old—and buy an AR-15,” said Biden.
Another favorite falsehood of Biden’s is that anyone can simply walk into a firearms dealer, purchase a gun and walk out. This also is not true. Federal law requires those who wish to purchase a firearm from any licensed dealer to fill out form 4473, certifying under penalty of perjury that they are not disqualified from owning one. The dealer then contacts the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) to verify this before proceeding with the sale.
Joe Biden should know all about this process; after all, his son, Hunter, likely lied on a form 4473.
“I’m not opposed to the Second Amendment … I support the Second Amendment,” said Biden.
All of the president’s comments throughout this speech say otherwise, as do many of his policies.
