President Joe Biden might not be able to muster a comment about the devastating wildfire in Hawaii that claimed dozens of lives and left many more homeless, but he is eager to continue spreading his anti-gun message on social media.
As he has insisted at multiple points throughout his term in the White House, Biden shared an all-caps image on X, the platform previously known as Twitter, that declared: “I am determined to ban assault weapons. I did it once before, and I’ll do it again.”
An accompanying caption claimed that it “is within our power to once again ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to require safe storage of guns, to end gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and to enact universal background checks.”
Although the message resonated with some gun-grabbing leftist activists, it was inundated by criticism from those who oppose this administration’s effort to infringe on the rights enumerated in the Constitution.
This is how a dictator talks. ‘Within our power’.
Second Amendment says otherwise, Biden intern. https://t.co/EiDAviKPSv
— The🐰FOO (@PolitiBunny) August 13, 2023
“Fact check: Much of the gun control Joe Biden proposes below would be in violation of the Second and Fourteenth Amendments,” replied Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Actor Matthew Marsden chimed in with his advice to “be wary when they push to take your guns,” calling Biden one of the “most corrupt” of all U.S. presidents.
“It’s never gonna happen,” he said of the push to ban firearms.
While Biden’s rhetoric on the issue has remained fairly consistent, his own words indicate that he is not familiar enough with the matter to intelligently defend a ban on so-called assault weapons.
Even CNN provided a fact-check of Biden’s remarks, identifying several key inaccuracies in his depiction of applicable gun laws and his interpretation of the Second Amendment.
In one statement ostensibly decrying the availability of rifles like the AR-15, Biden instead expressed support for outlawing all semiautomatic firearms, which is a broad segment of the market that includes most guns aside from revolvers and some shotguns.
The president’s latest message echoed a statement earlier this year in which he touted his support of a 1994 ban on certain firearms, which had a negligible impact on gun-related crime.
“I am determined to once again ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines,” he said in March. “I led that fight in 1994. For the ten years it was in place, mass shootings went down.”
