There is probably yet another walk-back of remarks made by Joe Biden looming on the horizon, but should anyone buy it when it comes? Then again, will it come at all? The comments in question were made to members of the media on Nov. 24 when Mr. Biden visited Nantucket, Massachusetts. For Democrats – whether they like it or not – the words that came out of their leader’s mouth will never allow them to again insist that they support Second Amendment rights. Biden effectively called for the elimination of semi-automatic weapons, which covers the majority of handguns, around half of all the rifles currently manufactured or imported, and a significant number of shotgun models.
“The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick – just sick,” Biden told the gathered reporters. “It has no socially redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.” That’s a remarkably definitive statement. Not a single solitary rationale for owning a firearm claimed the man who had sworn to defend the Constitution, which includes a guarantee of the right to keep and bear arms.
Was Mr. Biden referring to what he and so many other uninformed people call “assault weapons”? He said “semi-automatic weapons,” of which modern sporting rifles are only a sub-section. Is that how the White House will try to reframe the remark sometime in the coming days? That, in itself, would create another problem for the chief executive. On Nov. 15, a Virginia Walmart employee killed six of his co-workers with a pistol – a semi-automatic pistol – and, indeed, that is the type of weapon used in the vast majority of mass shootings. Thus, it would be difficult for the White House to turn around and say, oh no, the president didn’t mean handguns, just assault rifles. In the wake of the Walmart shooting, it does seem certain that Biden did in fact mean all semi-automatic weapons.
There is no exact data on what percentage of guns owned by Americans are semi-automatic. The National Rifle Association in 2013 estimated it to be around 20% but added that this percentage was “quickly rising.” Other estimates put the percentage higher – as great as 50%, according to one source cited by U.S. Rep.-elect Mark Alford (R). However, figures from the ATF show that, between 2010 and 2018, anywhere from 60% to 80% of all the handguns manufactured in the US were semi-automatic (if one assumes the agency uses the word “pistol” to mean a semi-automatic handgun).
The point is, it’s not just modern sporting rifles – aka assault weapons – that are now on the chopping block. From here on out, Democrat politicians are going to have a hard time proclaiming their respect for the Second Amendment.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
No More Second Amendment Buts
Perhaps it is just as well that the pretense is over. In the past, Americans have been told that it’s only assault rifles – weapons of war, as the anti-gun rights crowd likes to say – that should be removed from society. Another favorite trope was “common sense gun laws.” The idea was always to make people think the anti-gunners were not really trying to extinguish the Second Amendment, but merely attempting to make America a safer place.
To believe that the left will settle for anything less than a total ban of all privately owned firearms was always naiveté of the highest order, however. To test that statement, one only need ask gun control advocates when they will be satisfied that America’s gun laws are sufficient. It is a question they are unwilling or unable to answer because they know that, for them, that time will never come – not until all gun stores are out of business and no private citizen is allowed to possess a firearm.
This is not the first time someone on the left has called for the banning of all semi-automatic firearms but it is the first time a commander-in-chief has done so in public. The Rubicon has been crossed, it would appear. Republican office-holders and the broader conservative and libertarian movements now have a license to push back on any Democrat who claims they still respect Second Amendment rights. The latter can now be pinned down on exactly which types of firearms they want to see gone; do they go against their president and insist that only so-called assault weapons are the problem, or do they agree with Biden that all semi-automatic weapons must be eliminated? If they choose the second option, then any claim to support the Second Amendment is meaningless.
They will try to wriggle out of their predicament, of course, by claiming that the Founding Fathers could not have foreseen the invention of semi-automatic pistols, rifles, and shotguns. It is preposterous, though, to claim the Founders had no concept of technological advancement. Did Jefferson, Madison, Adams, Franklin, and the rest believe the world would remain exactly as it was in 1791? Of course they did not. You couldn’t own a cannon, Democrats will say, when in fact, you could, if you had the means to purchase one.
With another in a long sequence of inartful remarks, Biden has put his party forever on the defensive, regarding Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. The Second Amendment includes no caveats, no exceptions, and no special circumstances. Semi-automatic weapons are arms and, therefore, the right to possess them is guaranteed. One either supports Second Amendment rights or one does not. Every American, elected to office or otherwise, who genuinely treasures the rights guaranteed in the Constitution has a duty to allow no walk-backs, no buts, no evasions. Politicians – especially leaders of nations – should not be afforded the opportunity to escape the impact of unequivocal statements. Joe Biden has made his stand – and it should be neither excused nor forgotten.
