In response to press questions after his remarks on the hostage situation at a synagogue in Texas this past weekend, President Joe Biden stated a truth about gun control the left rarely admits. When asked if this event would affect the push to ensure guns aren’t available, Biden said that “you can’t stop something like this if someone is on the street buying something from somebody else on the street.” The president is correct, of course – but that knowledge never dissuaded Democrats bent on disarming the people before, and there’s no reason to assume it will now.
Hostage Situation
On Dec. 29, 2021, a British national landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. By Jan. 15, he had made his way to Colleyville, TX, where he held four people at gunpoint in a synagogue and demanded the release of a woman serving a federal prison sentence for trying to kill American service members in Afghanistan. After a nearly 11-hour standoff, the FBI hostage rescue team did as its name suggests: rescued the hostages. The suspect was shot dead in the process.
All that occurred between the New York arrival and the attack in Texas remains unclear, but authorities were confident he spent some time in homeless shelters to better portray himself as destitute and gain access to the synagogue during Shabbat services. It worked; he knocked and was invited in for tea. Police believe he purchased his firearm on the street from someone he met at one of the shelters. As no Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) was involved in the transaction, there was no background check to reveal that the buyer was a foreign national with a criminal record.
Hints of a Plan?
After a fairly brief statement on the ordeal Sunday, Jan. 16, President Biden took a few questions from reporters. When asked about the “ramifications for the push to – on – to ensure that guns are not available,” Biden responded:
“Well, no – well it does, but it also doesn’t. The guns are – we should be – the idea of background checks are critical. But you can’t stop something like this if someone is on the street buying something from somebody else on the street. Except that there’s too – there’s so many guns that have been sold of late; it’s just ridiculous.
“And it’s because of the failure of us to focus as hard as we should and as consistent as we should on gun purchases, gun sales, ghost guns, and a whole range of things that I’m trying to do.”
Did the president admit in his reply that it’s impossible to stop violent people from illegally purchasing firearms for nefarious purposes? Yes. Does this make his administration and legislative agenda any less a threat to the right of the people to legally keep and bear arms? No.
Joe Biden stressed the importance of background checks. Contextually, it makes sense he means universal background checks – though that still wouldn’t stop individuals willing to defy the law and sell guns in secret. Indeed, the president makes it clear he wants there to be fewer armed Americans in general. The ultimate goal, of course, is the complete disarming of civilians. As Liberty Nation’s Graham J. Noble wrote back in 2019:
“The refrain from Democrats is that they respect Second Amendment rights but that ‘common sense’ gun laws are needed. This is nonsense, of course: Democrats have never come across a gun restriction they didn’t like – whether it made sense or not – and none have ever been willing to clearly define a red line for gun control laws – a line between supposed common sense laws and those that infringe upon the Second Amendment.”
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Even the reporter’s question is indicative of an anti-Second Amendment narrative: Are there ramifications for the push “to ensure that guns are not available?” As Biden put it, “well it does, but it also doesn’t.” His answer isn’t contradictory. It means that, while there’s no legislation that can stop people from selling guns illegally if they don’t mind breaking the law, gun grabbers can certainly still try.
Yes, There’s a Plan
In an analysis of Team Biden’s 2020 “Plan to End Our Gun Violence Epidemic,” LN revealed what the president had in mind. Part one debunked his fearmongering facts; part two explained the actions the Biden administration would strive to take. In Biden’s war on guns, consider this document his official battle strategy.
Already the administration has worked to redefine the term “firearm” to put an end to the 80% receiver market and updated the rules for FFLs to increase both the difficulty and danger of doing business. If Biden has his way – whether by legislation, executive order, or the direction of anti-Second Amendment appointees to the DOJ, ATF, and federal courts – the right to keep and bear arms could look a lot different by 2024. Amongst other things, the president’s plan would:
Regulate semiautomatic weapons via the National Firearms Act (NFA), just as machineguns.
Impose a limit on how many guns a person can buy.
Enact universal background checks nationwide.
Ban so-called “high capacity” magazines.
Pass a new federal assault weapons ban without a sunset clause.
Hold firearm manufacturers liable for the crimes of others.
Expand the list of prohibited persons.
Ban online firearms and ammunition sales.
Using extreme risk laws – often called red flag laws – disarm people without criminal conviction.
Require a license to purchase any firearm.
Require all firearms sold in the U.S. to be smart guns.
“Stop the proliferation” of “ghost guns,” whether 3D printed or built from disassembled parts.
Yes, President Biden knows that “common sense” gun control doesn’t work; most, if not all, the gun grabbers do. But the goal isn’t stopping violence. No one can be so naïve as to believe that if all the weapons in the world – from club to atomic bomb – were magicked away, the worst of humanity wouldn’t find some way to harm and even kill others. The true aim of statists is to disarm the American people so there is no defense against an almighty government weary of pretending to ask permission – and, perhaps, which looks back fondly on the kings of old. In the end, there’s no better way of stating it than the title to Mr. Noble’s 2019 article of warning: Don’t be fooled: Democrats still want your guns.
~Read more from James Fite.
