Opinion
By Mark Oliva

Just hours after Hunter Biden was convicted on three counts of falsifying the background check form (ATF Form 4473) when he purchased a handgun, President Joe Biden, his father, delivered a speech demanding more gun control.

President Biden spoke to Everytown for Gun Safety’s “Gun Sense University” in Washington, D.C., in a “rinse, lather, repeat,” performance of nearly every other gun control speech he’s delivered since he announced his candidacy for The White House. This time, he accentuated his threat to wage war on law-abiding gun owners who cherish their Second Amendment rights, pilloried those who value those rights as a hedge against a tyrannical government and vowed to defy the Second Amendment and U.S. Supreme Court by banning the most popular-selling centerfire rifle in America – the Modern Sporting Rifle (MSR).

“How many have heard this phrase, the blood of liberty washes those… gimme a break,” President Biden said. “No, I mean it. Seriously. And by the way, if they want to think they want to take on government if we get out of line, which they’re talking again about, guess what, they need F-15s. They don’t need a rifle.”

The president’s quote was off the mark. It’s actually, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” It comes from President Thomas Jefferson, in 1787 letter to William Stephens Smith, the son-in-law of John Adams.

This talk of an American president openly suggesting that he would use actual instruments of war against citizens of the United States is beyond callous. It is dangerous and must be rebuked. The people are not the president’s subjects. The president is beholden to the people – he serves the people. A threat of war on them by the government is the very reason the Second Amendment exists – to protect the people against a tyrannical government.

This isn’t the first time President Biden’s rolled out this trope against law-abiding citizens who are also law-abiding gun owners. It is as repugnant now as it was then.

Cannon Thunder

There’s more he got wrong about history. He trotted out the tired line that nothing in the law says citizens could own cannons – this during the Civil War. Previously, he said that there was a cannon restriction during the Revolutionary War.

“There’s never been a time that says you can own anything you want,” President Biden said. “You couldn’t own a cannon during the Civil War. No, I’m serious.”

Once again, he’s wrong. There was no restriction on owning cannons during the Civil War. Or the Revolutionary War. Or now. It’s legal to own one. To be honest, I never really wanted to own a cannon until President Biden said I couldn’t – without proof of law that you can’t.

Turns out, there are working cannons on sale now. Anyone with between $5,000 and $13,000 can do some shopping for Civil War-era cannons today. Just last week, Virginia’s Gov. Glenn Younkin was firing a cannon to dedicate the new Culpeper Battlefield State Park. Conservative commentator Katie Pavlich posted on X, “A fact check on Biden’s speech today, one I have done many times. You can own a cannon.” The photo accompanying is Pavlich leaning against a Civil War-era cannon.

President Biden wasn’t done ignoring history to push his unconstitutional gun control agenda.

Stop Me If You’ve Heard This Before

“It’s time, once again, to do what I did when I was senator. Ban assault weapons,” President Biden said. “I mean it. Who, in God’s name, needs a magazine that can hold 200 shells. Nobody. That’s right. Think about it. They’re weapons of war.”

First, as the president conveniently ignores, the Bill of Rights isn’t contingent upon what the government believes citizens need. It’s a right. Period. Full stop. The Second Amendment takes the choice away from the government.

Second, the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, which even the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention admitted did nothing to reduce criminal misuse of firearms, would clearly be unconstitutional. The law expired in 2004 before the landmark Heller decision, that held the government cannot ban an entire class of firearms that are commonly-owned and commonly-used for lawful purposes. Seeing that there are over 28.1 million of these rifles – the most popular selling centerfire rifle in America and more common than Ford F-150s on the road today (the most popular selling pickup truck in America), the idea of banning these semiautomatic rifles doesn’t pass the sniff test, much less constitutional muster. Add to that the Court’s Bruen holdings, and it’s clear there is no history and tradition of banning entire classes of firearms. A sober look at the history and tradition at the time of the nation’s founding demonstrates the government encouraged citizens to own firearms that were suitable to for not just hunting but also national defense.

The president’s truth-stretching continued. He scorned the bipartisan Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, claiming that its protections are solely unique to the firearm industry.

“And by the way, this is the most important, the only industry in America that has immunity are gun dealers,” he said. “We gotta end it. End it now. No, I mean it.”

Except, that’s not true either. The firearm industry is protected from frivolous lawsuits that attempt to saddle businesses with the blame for the criminal misuse of firearms by remote third parties that have no connection to the companies. In other words – criminals. Gun control advocates use this to attempt to bypass the legislative process to force policies through the courts.

That protection isn’t unique. Other industries enjoy similar protections, including airlines, medical device makers, pharmaceuticals (including all the COVID vaccine makers) and big tech.

There’s more but it’s more of President Biden consistently misrepresenting the facts. The problem is, facts don’t matter to the president when it comes to his gun control agenda. It turns out, he doesn’t give much thought to threatening war against citizens for demanding their rights either.

That’s not just ignorance. That’s dangerous.

About The National Shooting Sports Foundation

NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org