By: Teresa Mull
Joe Biden bumbled and fumbled through a press conference concerning guns earlier today. GPM watched it so you don’t have to. Here are four take-aways from the painful speech he made:
1) It’s about “preventing gun violence” now, not “gun control.”
Democrats are slyly switching their talking points away from controlling guns (and people!) to “preventing gun violence.” They clearly want to associate guns with violence and label anyone opposed to their calculated dismantling of the Second Amendment through gun control as somehow “pro-violence.”
The Biden administration has just announced “Initial Actions to Address the Gun Violence Public Health Epidemic.” It’s a sneaky manipulation of language aimed at altering rhetoric. Don’t fall for it.
2) The left remains ignorant of all things guns.
“Ghost guns” and stabilizing braces are evil, the left proclaims in its uninformed – or maliciously dishonest distortion of reality. In their continued war waged against inanimate objects, liberals are set immediately to go after commonly owned “ghost guns” and stabilizing braces. According to a White House press release:
The Justice Department, within 30 days, will issue a proposed rule to help stop the proliferation of “ghost guns.”
“Ghost guns” are, according to the Biden administration, a growing problem among criminals, despite the ATF lacking any data to back up this assertion. What’s more, anyone prohibited from possessing a firearm now is already prohibited from possessing a ghost gun, so adding more restrictions to an item that heretofore has been legal for law-abiding citizens to purchase, build, and possess, will – guess what! – only serve to punish law-abiding citizens.
The White House further declares:
The Justice Department, within 60 days, will issue a proposed rule to make clear when a device marketed as a stabilizing brace effectively turns a pistol into a short-barreled rifle subject to the requirements of the National Firearms Act.
Because the Boulder, Colorado shooter allegedly used a stabilizing pistol brace, the Biden administration will require more than 2 million lawful Americans who possess these accessories – many of them disabled veterans – to register them and pay a $200 fee. Stabilizing braces, by the way, in no way make a firearm more dangerous.
3) Red flag laws are coming to a state near you.
According to the White House:
The Justice Department, within 60 days, will publish model “red flag” legislation for states.
GPM readers are well-aware of the dangers of red flag gun confiscation laws. In addition to encouraging states to adopt these dangerous and unconstitutional laws, Biden also reiterated his support for the Violence Against Women Act, which includes a provision for a federal red flag law.
As GPM reported previously, with the red flag provision in place, a stalker, abuser, even a perfect stranger, could claim another person caused him or her “emotional distress,” and that’s enough – without proof – to have a person’s guns taken away. And there’s no due process. The gun owner – or former gun owner – is then guilty until proven innocent.
What’s more, reports Reason.com, under this law, anyone convicted of misdemeanor stalking, “a crime that need not involve violence, threats, or even a victim the offender knows,” could have his or her gun rights permanently stripped.
Note that this law could be flipped on its head, and male stalkers and aggressors would be just as able to accuse females of distress and take their means to self-defense away as women trying to protect themselves from violence would be.
4) America will become more dangerous under Biden.
During his press conference, Biden named David Chipman as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), which Sleepy Joe referred to as the “AFT.”
“Chipman is an extremist gun control lobbyist known for his time as an ATF case agent in the Waco, Texas trial,” reports the Firearms Policy Coalition.
The ATF has been an enemy to the gun industry for years – issuing confounding and downright contradictory “guidelines” to companies striving to comply with the agency’s arbitrary and ever-changing rules.
Under Chipman, it’s only going to get worse.
Teresa Mull ([email protected]) is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.