A group of 15 Republican attorneys general sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling out his stance on “assault weapons” and pledged to oppose his plan to target gun rights.
The coalition of attorneys general, led by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, questioned Biden’s definition of “assault weapons” and labeled his efforts to ban them as “irresponsible and unconstitutional.”
"In a letter sent to President Biden, 15 other state attorneys general joined Attorney General Knudsen in highlighting the many flaws of his reasons for banning his personal, broad definition of 'assault weapons,' as well as the dangers of doing so." https://t.co/BDG48A4Ihd
— FPC Action Foundation (@FPCAction) February 15, 2023
“We write to address your irresponsible and unconstitutional demand that Congress ban firearms commonly used by law-abiding Americans for self-defense,” the letter stated.
The letter specifically responded to the president’s comments during his State of the Union address regarding assault weapons and semi-automatic handguns.
“Ban assault weapons now!” Biden said during his State of the Union speech. “Ban them now! Once and for all.”
The coalition also questioned Biden’s “assault weapon” designation, arguing it is a “misleading label” and an attempt to scare Americans.
“While you fail to define the very epithet you propose to ban, we know that is by design. Anti-gun politicians like yourself use the misleading label of “assault weapon” to scare Americans expecting us to endorse your efforts to criminalize law-abiding gun owners,” Knudsen wrote.
The letter also condemned Biden’s decision to use Monterey Park hero Brandon Tsay to call for a nationwide ban on “assault weapons” during his State of the Union address.
“He saw a man standing there pointing a semi-automatic pistol at him. He thought he was going to die. But he thought about the people inside, and that is that he found the courage to act and wrestled a semi-automatic pistol away from the gunman who had already killed 11 people in another dance studio,” Biden said.
Tsay was responsible for disarming the Monterey Park gunman who killed 11 people following a Chinese Lunar New Year dance festival.
Furthermore, in his address, the president argued that it would take a lot more firepower than an AR-15 to take down the government.
“I love my right-wing friends who’ll talk about the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots. If you need to worry about taking on the federal government, you need some F-15s, you don’t need an AR-15,” he said.
The letter said that the right to keep and bear arms is “one of the most fundamental and deeply rooted liberties” in the U.S. Constitution.
