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Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked a simple question to Joe Biden’s White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Doocy asked, “Canada is making it impossible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in that country. Would President Biden ever consider a similar restriction on handguns here?” Doocy asked.
Although Jean-Pierre admitted that Biden does not support a ban “on the sale of all handguns,” Doocy’s question exposed the fact Biden wants to ban so-called “assault weapons,” which presumably means semiautomatics, as well as high-capacity magazines. Watch the clip:
Joe Biden suggests he wants to ban “high caliber” 9mm handguns.
“There’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection.” pic.twitter.com/lPITAN5kEU
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) May 30, 2022
Jean-Pierre responded, “The president has made his position clear that the United States needs to act, as I just laid out. He supports a ban on sales of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and expanded background checks to keep guns out of dangerous hands.”
Sinking to a new low, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced legislation to freeze the future sales and purchases of handguns. Canada also imposed a “buy back” of military-style semi-automatic weapons.
“Today, we’re proposing some of the strongest measures in Canadian history to keep guns out of our communities and build a safer future for everyone,” Trudeau said.
Joe Biden recently argued that the Constitution and the Second Amendment were “never absolute” during a pitch for increased gun control measures. Biden has called on Congress to ban “assault-style weapons,” which presumably means semiautomatics. Biden wants to renew the 1994 assault weapons ban.
He also wants Congress to ban high-capacity magazines or otherwise raise the purchasing age from 18 to 21. “Don’t tell me raising the age won’t make a difference,” he said. “Enough.”
“The Constitution, the Second Amendment was never absolute,” Biden told reporters. “It’s about protecting our freedom to go to school, to a grocery store, to a church without being shot and killed,” Biden said.
Biden repeated a false claim that “you couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed and you couldn’t go out and purchase a lot of weapons.” Even liberal fact-checkers have labeled this comment as “false” about being unable to buy a cannon.
He asked for Congress to “strengthen background checks,” even though this would not have prevented most mass shootings because the weapons were purchased legally and passed background checks by a registered FFL. Biden claims these proposals are “rational, common-sense measures.” He continued, “How much more carnage are we willing to accept? Let’s meet the moment. Let us finally do something.”
More on this story via The Hill:
Biden’s speech represented his most detailed plea yet to Congress for action in the wake of a devastating mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman. That mass shooting followed another at a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y., last month that killed 10 people…
In addition to gun-related proposals, Biden also called on Congress to address the mental health crisis.
His comments came shortly after a bipartisan group of senators began to quietly negotiate gun reform measures in the wake of the Uvalde elementary school shooting. The White House has said that Biden is giving space to those negotiations and is encouraged by them.
Still, an assault weapons ban is highly unlikely to pass the Senate, where Democrats need 10 Republicans to vote with them in order to overcome the 60-vote threshold to advance most legislation.
Biden argued that lawmakers should at least raise the purchasing age to 21 if they do not renew the assault weapons ban outright…
It’s unclear what might come from the bipartisan negotiations on Capitol Hill, and Democrats are skeptical of the effort given past failed efforts to accomplish gun reform.
The House Judiciary Committee advanced a package of gun control measures along party lines earlier Thursday, and the House is expected to vote on it next week. The bill, which would raise the purchasing age for semi-automatic weapons to 21, ban high-capacity magazines and bump stocks and require background checks for so-called ghost guns, is not expected to advance in the Senate.