Biden, Gun Control and the Truth in Between

The battle for the Presidency is set to be between Biden and Trump. Both sides will, it’s thought, attempt to appeal to the moderate voters in the middle – folks who aren’t fully committed to one side of our contentious political line or the other.

Apparently, Biden is attempting to appeal to gun owners in middle America who, his team believes, might vote for him in lieu of Trump if he can convince them that he’s only going after certain weapons. But this type of manipulation has been seen before, and we’d be fools to believe it outright.

Wondering if the rumors of Biden relaxing his gun control stances are true? Wonder no more.

The Myth of No Gun Changes if Biden Wins

There’s a bit of political trickery going around – Biden (or his team to be honest) is attempting to back out of the public perception that he’s against gun freedoms. This is partially because of the work of the Massachusetts anti-gun advocate and businessman John Rosenthal. Rosenthal has been behind a bunch of anti-gun efforts, including a misleading piece in Newsweek claiming that Biden wouldn’t target individual gun ownership.

But Rosenthal is clearly doing this to muddy the waters. He’s called the NRA a “terrorist organization”, and he’s behind billboards that have called for criminalizing all private gun transfers, federal bans on semi-automatic firearms, and more.

Suffice it to say that anything coming out of Rosenthal’s mouth should immediately be looked at with serious skepticism. With that in mind, let’s take a look at Biden himself.

Biden’s Actual Gun Control Aims

All the political dancing aside, what does Biden actually believe? Let’s look at the evidence.

An interview in 2019 with Anderson Cooper saw Biden claim that he wanted to grab all assault weapons should he become President. Pretty straightforward, but it’s also unfortunately true that Biden (and many liberals) classify the AR-15 and similar guns as “assault” weapons under their ridiculous umbrella classification.

Furthermore, Biden was one of the authors of the 1994 federal ban on all kinds of semi-automatic firearms. This shows a long history of anti-gun efforts and political drive, and we aren’t buying for a second that it’s not still rattling around in his thoughts.

Even worse, Biden has even made it appear as though he’d go after folks with regular 9mm pistols. He’s on record asking fundraiser attendees why people should be allowed to have “pistols with 9mm bullets”.

Biden’s VP pick, Kamala Harris, has a similar track record for gun control legislation, and she’s only been doubling down on these views since the announcement of her addition to Biden’s ticket. Specifically, she’s spoken about buybacks, meaning she wants the federal government to pay people to surrender their firearms.

As if regular Americans would accept cash for the surrendering of their rights.

What This Means for the 2020 Election

Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s death this month has increased what’s at stake with the upcoming election. Her seat on the Supreme Court is now up for grabs, and those of you who know your political workings will also know that whoever is sitting President gets to nominate Ginsberg’s replacement. As Ginsberg herself was anti-gun, it’s likely that Biden, should he win, will seek to stack the court in the Democrats’ favor, securing his anti-gun aims for his administration.

In short: the 2020 election is crucial for both general reasons and for the gun freedom fight. Biden can’t hide behind what’s already on record and who his political allies are. He’s not interested in letting people keep guns if he can manage it.

What can you do? Vote!