Emboldened, Opportunistic Biden Continues to Promote Gun Bans

Whatever else can be said of Joe Biden as a politician, he has been consistent and unwavering on at least one point: he wants to take your guns. Make no mistake: Left to his own devices, that is exactly what he will do.

Joe Biden’s political party just lost control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and it still holds less than half of the governorships across the United States. Meanwhile, the man who could fairly be called Biden’s political opposite and a possible opponent for the White House in 2024, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), just won re-election by an astounding margin of over 19 points.

But anyone who thinks Biden will moderate or revise his policies during the second half of his term doesn’t know the former Delaware senator. When confronted after the election with poll results showing 3/4 of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction and asked what he would do differently before his re-election campaign, Biden said: “Nothing. … I’m not going to change anything in any fundamental way.”

Biden also took the opportunity during those same remarks – which ironically emphasized his supposed commitment to civility and unity – to reiterate his determination to ban what he calls “assault weapons” and what America’s Second Amendment supporters simply call “guns.” “I am going to ban assault weapons,” Biden said, “or try like the devil.”

More specifically, Joe Biden wants to ban the AR-15, the most popular rifle platform in the country today. To suggest that this is somehow a unifying or civil thing to do, or even something that will appreciably lower violent crime, is simply false.

Days later, the White House took up this refrain again, with a statement supposedly in response to a shooting that occurred at the University of Virginia: “We need to enact an assault weapons ban to get weapons of war off America’s streets. House Democrats acted, and the Senate should follow.” But the dishonest and opportunistic nature of this reaction is illustrated by the fact that the crimes invoked in these remarks were reportedly committed with a handgun, not with anything even gun control advocates would characterize as an “assault weapon.”

Joe Biden, of course, is not known for speaking the truth. But when one theme appears so often and so consistently in a politician’s messaging, there comes a point at which it cannot safely be ignored. When it comes to Biden and gun bans, things are well beyond that point. The NRA has been warning Americans of that throughout Biden’s term in the in the White House, including here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The balance of power in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate is very closely divided. When Democrats controlled the House during the first half of Biden’s term, they passed the most sweeping gun ban in the nation’s history. While that legislation did not make it to Biden’s desk, another expansive gun control bill did. But far from satisfying gun control advocates, that bill merely provoked their calls for even greater restrictions, with far-ranging bans on firearms and magazines at the top of the list.

If any lesson emerged for Second Amendment supporters from the 2022 midterm elections, it is that the fight must continue. Now is no time to get comfortable or complacent.

Biden has told us exactly what he intends to do when it comes to America’s guns.

For once, we should take him at his word.

© 2022 National Rifle Association of America, Institute for Legislative Action. This may be reproduced. This may not be reproduced for commercial purposes.