OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
President Joe Biden took aim at lawful gun owners again this week following a pair of shootings at a club in Colorado and a Walmart in Virginia.
In remarks to a reporter, Biden lashed out at all Americans who own “semi-automatic” guns, which, according to published data, amount to more than half of all firearms in private hands.
During a press event in Nantucket, Mass., Biden specifically referenced the shooting in Colorado Springs, Colo., where a self-described “non-binary” gunman killed five patrons and wounded nearly 20 others at Club Q, a hot spot for the gay and lesbian community.
“The idea we still allow semi-automatic weapons to be purchased is sick,” Biden said. “Just sick. It has no socially redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.”
Another reporter went on to ask the president if he thought he could make any progress on new gun control laws when Republicans take control of the House in January, responding that he would have to take stock of votes first.
“I’m going to try,” Biden said. “I’m going to try to get rid of assault weapons.”
The president was blasted over his remarks for his overly generalized statement regarding firearms and the tens of millions of Americans who own them.
“So essentially all guns are on the Big Guy’s chopping block,” Hollywood actor James Woods tweeted.
So essentially all guns are on the Big Guy’s chopping block. https://t.co/EwZlxZROJy
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) November 25, 2022
“Wow. Are there any guns Biden would not ban?” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton noted on Twitter.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said that Biden was “maligning most gun owners” and added that Americans rejected recent gun control proposals floated by outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Americans rejected Pelosi’s gun control schemes in the mid terms, yet here is Biden saying he wants to ban modern firearms, and maligning most gun owners. https://t.co/8cXyftBx8j
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 24, 2022
Missouri’s 4th congressional district U.S. Representative-elect Mark Alford called Biden’s stance on gun laws “sheer ignorance,” going on to cite an article noting that semi-automatic weapons make up 50 percent of all gun sales in America.
Serving up sheer ignorance for Thanksgiving!! @POTUS now wants to ban ALL semiautomatic weapons. “The idea that we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick” Semiautomatics make up 50% of ALL gun sales in America. https://t.co/181vuX0sQg @NRA
— Mark Alford 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@markalfordkc) November 24, 2022
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court handed strengthened the Second Amendment’s individual right to keep and bear arms by striking down a concealed carry law in New York state that a majority of justices viewed as unconstitutionally restrictive. And in October, the Biden administration lost another case in federal court regarding the right.
According to reports, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin in Charleston, W. Va., ruled that a federal ban on guns without a serial number or with a serial number removed is unconstitutional in the first such ruling since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld broader gun rights in a June ruling.
Goodwin ruled on Wednesday that the ban was inconsistent with the United States’ “historical tradition of firearm regulation,” which is a new standard for deciding Second Amendment cases that the Supreme Court laid out over the summer, Reuters reported, adding:
The decision came in a criminal case charging a man, Randy Price, with illegally possessing a gun with the serial number removed that was found in his car. The judge dismissed that charge, though Price is still charged with illegally possessing the gun after being convicted of previous felonies.
Price’s lawyer, Lex Coleman, called the decision “thoughtful, measured and accurate.” A spokesperson for the office of U.S. Attorney William Thompson in Charleston, which is prosecuting the case, said the office was “reviewing the ruling and assessing options.”
The federal law in question prohibits anyone from transporting a gun with the serial number removed across state lines, or from possessing such a gun if it has ever been transported across state lines.
Serial numbers, first required by the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, are intended to prevent illegal gun sales and make it easier to solve crimes by allowing individual guns to be traced.
During oral arguments, Price said the law violates the Constitution following the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, which held that under the Second Amendment, the federal government is barred from restricting a citizen’s right to possess firearms unless the restriction meets the standard of historical tradition.
In Bruen, since serial numbers were not required to be placed on firearms when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791 and were only required after the passage of the 1968 law, they are outside the ‘historical tradition’ guideline.
