Joe Biden demanding Congress pass a ban on AR-15s and other semi-automatic rifles, as he did at the NAACP convention on Tuesday, is hardly breaking news at this point. In fact, most of the outlets that covered Biden’s address buried that detail in their stories rather than headlining his call to disarm.
But Biden’s rhetoric, at least the phrases that could be made out amidst his mumbling and slurred speech, suggests that both he and downticket Democrats are planning to make an “assault weapons” ban a major theme as they campaign against Donald Trump and Republicans between now and November.
“If you’re going to be outspoken on one, don’t be silent on others,” Biden said, to applause. “If we’re going to speak about violence we’re going to speak about guns. More children in America died from gunshot wounds than any other reason. That’s stunning and that is sick!”
It’s also not true, as we’ve pointed out time and again here at Bearing Arms. Even the Washington Post has acknowledged the fuzzy math behind Biden’s claim. Only by including 18-and-19-year-olds, while excluding all deaths from children up to the age of 1, do gun control advocates arrive at that figure.
Now, that’s not to say that the current levels of violent crime, including juvenile crime, are acceptable. It’s not. But that doesn’t mean that banning semi-automatic rifles is the answer.
“And it’s sheer cowardice if we do nothing about it,” Biden continued. “So if you want to stand against violence in America, then join me in getting these weapons of war off the streets of America. An AR-15 was used in the shooting of Donald Trump.”
And if the assassin had used a bolt-action rifle with a scope, would Biden be demanding a ban on “high-powered sniper rifles”? Now that I think about it, probably.
In fact, if Biden wants us to to be outspoken about every act of violence, then why isn’t Biden demanding a ban on all firearms, Second Amendment be damned? Rifles are used in a small percentage of violent crimes. Handguns are far more common, so why isn’t Biden calling on Congress to enact a ban on handguns too? Because the Supreme Court has said that’s unconstitutional? So what? As it turns out, Biden has big plans for SCOTUS too.
President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans.
|He is also weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad immunity for presidents and other constitutional officeholders, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
The announcement would mark a major shift for Biden, a former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has long resisted calls to make substantive changes to the high court. The potential changes come in response to growing outrage among his supporters about recent ethics scandals surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas and decisions by the new court majority that have changed legal precedent on issues including abortion and federal regulatory powers.
No, the potential changes come in response to the growing calls from Democrats to replace Biden as their presidential candidate. Progressives have been losing their minds over Clarence Thomas for as long as he’s been on the Court. That’s nothing new. What’s changed is that Biden is watching demoralized Democrats gameplan ways to replace him before or at the Democratic National Convention, and he’s trying to play “Let’s Make a Deal” with them.
The problem for Biden is that both his gun ban demand and his proposed Court-killing “reforms” require Congressional approval, and that ain’t happening between now and Election Day. If Democrats want a candidate who’ll ban guns and impose term limits on the judiciary (or even expand the Supreme Court and pack it with five or more progressive justices), they don’t need Joe Biden. Any replacement Democrats come up with could make the same campaign pledge. Unless Democrats take control of the House while keeping their grip on the Senate and White House, however, those promises are just words.
Biden doesn’t have the votes in Congress for a semi-auto ban, but he does have an ATF director who’s been willing to abuse agency authority in order to impose new rules on gun owners. We know that the gun control lobby has been pushing Biden to issue a new rule treating Glocks and other semi-automatic handguns as machineguns, and if Biden is desperate to demonstrate his leadership that’s one approach he could take. A proposed rule wouldn’t be able to go into effect before Election Day, but Biden could still set the wheels in motion as a way to gin up support among his bewildered and beleaguered base.
I don’t know how likely it is that Biden would take that dramatic step, but the fact that he’s reversing course on the Supreme Court shows his desperation, and desperate people do dangerous things.
