Joe Biden has been president just over 100 days now, and we still have yet to see significant action on gun control. Make no mistake, it is coming. With control of both the House and Senate, gun control is one of the most important issues for Biden supporters to address. He has already taken criticism from his supporters for not addressing it already, so we can expect something soon. But what exactly will it be? We don’t have to guess, because Biden himself made his plans very clear during his campaign for president. Here is exactly how he plans to address gun violence as president, straight from his campaign website www.joebiden.com/gunsafety.
Assault Weapon Ban
Joe Biden was one of the primary authors of the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban as a senator. The bill was made up of nothing but virtue signaling and was a complete failure, but Democrats loved it. As president, Joe Biden plans to implement a similar ban on AR-15 style rifles and other weapons deemed “assault” weapons.
The 1994 bill was a failure because it only addressed the aesthetics of a firearm and not the actual function. For example, according to the 1994 bill, a rifle was prohibited from accepting detachable magazines and having two or more of the following features:
Folding Stock
Pistol Grip
Bayonet Mount
Flash Hider or Threaded Barrel
Grenade Launcher
None of those features actually change the lethality of a rifle. They simply make it look scarier. Although the specifics of a Biden Assault Weapon Ban are not yet known, we can expect that it will look similar to the 1994 bill.
National Firearms Act
Another major pillar of Joe Biden’s gun control plan is to go after current owners of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. His plan calls for classifying these items under the National Firearms Act of 1934. Currently, the NFA covers items like short-barreled rifles and fully automatic “machine guns”. If he is successful in getting them placed under the NFA, this will mean those gun owners who legally own them will have to register them with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and pay a $200 tax stamp for each item they own. That’s $200 for each assault rifle and high-capacity magazine owned. For most gun owners, this would amount to thousands of dollars in taxes just for the guns and magazines they already own. If they fail to register their guns and magazines with the AFT, they face fines of up to $250,000, 10 years in prison, or both. Not to mention never being able to own guns again.
Purchase Limits
Another gun control measure that Biden has hinted at is limiting the number of guns someone can buy. On his website, he calls it stockpiling, and mentions limiting gun purchases to one gun per month. Don’t be surprised if that number is quickly changed to one gun per year now that Biden is securely seated in the White House. Oh, and expect limits on the type and amount of ammunition you can buy, as well.
Holding Manufacturers Accountable
On his website, Biden says that the firearms industry is the only industry that is protected from holding manufacturers accountable for deaths caused by their products. He intends to change that, through either legislation or executive action. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth is you can only sue the manufacturer of a product when their product malfunctions resulting in injury or death. We don’t allow drivers to sue auto manufacturers when someone is injured in an auto accident unless a vehicle malfunction was the cause of the accident. If you injure someone with a car because of your own negligence or malice, it’s not the car company’s fault. The same goes for a firearm.
Ending Online Sales
Firearms sales have been at an all-time high recently, due in large part to fears that many common guns will be outlawed soon. Part of Joe Biden’s gun control plan is to end the online sale of guns and ammunition. In 2020, nearly 40 million guns were purchased in the United States. 4 million were purchased in January of 2021, the highest single-month total in more than 20 years. More and more of those purchases happen online, especially with COVID-19 concerns recently. The economy under Biden has struggled and will be even worse if he eliminates online sales of guns and ammo.
Conclusion
Joe Biden promised his supporters that he would act swiftly on gun control. 100+ days into his presidency and there hasn’t been any significant movement on the issue. You can expect to hear something on gun control very soon because Biden knows how important it is to his supporters. He also knows that he may only have two years of Democrat control in Congress, so expect him to act quickly.