The nation’s Second Amendment rights groups are readying for a new attack by longtime gun control advocate President Joe Biden now that the key elements of his domestic agenda have been shelved in a series of Senate rejections.
The gun-making industry and advocacy groups were put on warning last week when Biden slipped in anti-gun comments in his impromptu statement on the Texas synagogue hostage situation. The suspect, who was killed by police, was seen with a gun that he apparently purchased illegally.
Biden said that FBI background checks do not stop illegal purchases and indicated that the answer is to take guns away and off streets.
“You can’t stop something like this if someone is on the street buying something from somebody else on the street. Except that there’s too — there’s so many guns that have been sold of late; it’s just ridiculous,” Biden said.
“And it’s because of the failure of us to focus as hard as we should and as consistent as we should on gun purchases, gun sales, ghost guns, and a whole range of things that I’m trying to do,” he added.
While gun purchases remain at near-record levels, many are being made by first-time buyers, especially women and minorities concerned about their safety, according to gun stores.
And many states are rewarding that by relaxing rules on carrying weapons, with several approving the easing of concealed carry laws.
One of the groups taking the lead in warning about Biden’s potential actions is the Second Amendment Foundation. Founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said he is concerned that with his agenda stalled, Biden will turn to guns as an issue he thinks will save his legacy.
“With virtually every one of his major campaign promises being defeated, what remains is an attack on the Second Amendment,” he said.
The group on Monday plans to launch ads on conservative radio shows warning of the potential threat from the White House. It will use Biden’s words calling for gun grabs, including this from the 2020 campaign: “Whether it is a 9 mm pistol or a rifle, it is ridiculous. I am continuing to push to eliminate the sale of those things.”
Other groups, including the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America, are also expected to join in the warning campaign.
Gottlieb is also leading in legal cases against the administration and efforts already underway to limit or end the sale of AR-15-style “pistols,” an initiative that began at the end of the Trump administration.
It also plans to fight a likely ban on self-made guns, which could include so-called “ghost guns.”
