President Biden, for some inexplicable reason, waded deep into the gun control debate on Thursday night and backed numerous left-wing proposals that stand little to no chance of passing a split U.S. Senate.
Among Biden’s buffet of proposed gun control actions, the “assault weapons ban” is making a comeback as is a call to ban high-capacity magazines. How many rounds are too many? Biden didn’t specify, but they should be banned nonetheless.
The only proposals Biden mentioned that bear exploration would be raising the minimum age to purchase certain weapons to 21, and enacting some kind of funding for states to implement their own “red flag” laws. Other than that, this speech was heavy on emotional tug and light on actionable proposals that stand a chance at passing.
For the most part, Biden should’ve stayed out of the debate and let the Senate work without tossing highly partisan bombs in the middle of the gun debate.
Instead, Biden offered a short laundry list of items intended to placate a left-wing base of the Democratic Party before the midterms this fall:
Speaking at the White House, Biden acknowledged the stiff political headwinds as he sought to drive up pressure on Congress to pass stricter gun limits after such efforts failed following past attacks.
He repeated calls to restore a ban on the sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines — and said if Congress won’t embrace all of his proposals, it must at least find compromises like keeping firearms from those with mental health issues or raising the age to buy assault-style weapons from 18 to 21.
It would have been much more advisable for Biden to stay light on proposals but simply urge Senators to act. As it stands now, the second Democrats start talking about “gun bans” or bans of any type, the debate is over before it begins as it has been for years.
There was no mention of the streets of Chicago, or other major cities, where gun violence has run rampant for years and more people are shot in a single weekend, mostly by handguns, than by rifles or anything else. Furthermore, liberal prosecutors do not prosecute gun crimes in these areas yet Biden wants more laws on the books.
The question then is why Biden chose to insert himself into this debate when his approval numbers are so polarizing and his call for “unity” was quickly followed up with a blame game on Republicans?
It’s simple. Biden is taking heat from gun control groups within the Democratic Party tent for not speaking out forcefully enough until tonight:
The approach has left some in the advocacy world nervous and wondering why the most powerful man in the country isn’t adequately using the bully pulpit on such an emotionally wrought issue.
“He can’t just be the ‘eulogizer in chief.’ He also needs to put the full force of his office into the legislative process. Otherwise it will seem like he’s lost hope.” said Peter Ambler, executive director for the gun safety group Giffords. “I think he can have an impact if he and the whole White House swing into action.”
The White House knows most of what Biden says has a zero percent chance of passing. Some of the other items have a greater chance, but not with the divider-in-chief standing at the podium calling for “bans” of some of the most popular self-defense weapons in the country.
Total garbage! There was no significant difference with gun violence when there was an “Assault Weapon” ban. Another Biden lie! https://t.co/2RFOPNtC6g
— Jack Bones ?? (@JackBones10) June 3, 2022
Mental health is an issue to be addressed. Most people could live with some kind of narrowly tailored, locally-administered red flag law. Even raising the minimum age to purchase certain firearms would be something to at least discuss.
None of these things, however, are more likely to happen simply because Biden makes a highly-partisan speech fraught with misstatements calling for bans and criticizing his political opponents in an attempt to motivate his own voting base.
