Given the trends in the vote counts — and whatever chicanery may have or is currently still taking place — the Associated Press has called Pennsylvania for Joe Biden and declared him the winner and President-elect.
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., 77, was elected Saturday as the 46th president of the United States, defeating President Donald Trump in an election that played out against the backdrop of a pandemic, its economic fallout and a national reckoning on racism. He becomes the oldest president-elect and brings with him a history-making vice president-elect in Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to serve in the nation’s second-highest office.
The Republicans have filed lawsuits, challenging the counts if a number of swing states. How successful those will be is anyone’s guess.
What does this mean for gun owners and their rights? Nothing good, although the full extent of the threat won’t be known until all of the Senate races are decided. Tom Tillis still has a narrow lead in North Carolina with 98% of the ballots counted. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face runoff elections in a few weeks for the two Georgia seats.
If the Republicans can hold onto control of the Senate, much of the worst parts of Biden’s anti-gun agenda can and should be blocked. However, if the Senate flips and Chuck Schumer becomes majority leader, Americans will brace themselves for the biggest attack on their gun rights in history.
For those who aren’t familiar with candidate Biden’s agenda for rolling back the right to keep and bear arms, it includes the following:
- Ban the manufacture and sale of “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines
- Regulate possession of existing “assault weapons” under the National Firearms Act
- Buy back civilian-owned “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines
- Outlaw the sales of firearms, gun parts and ammunition via the Internet
- Repeal the PLCAA, allowing attorneys to sue gun makers into bankruptcy
- Ban “ghost guns” by requiring background checks on sales of gun kits or for downloading 3D parts code
- Limit gun buyers to one gun a month
- Enact a federal universal background check law, ending all private gun sales
- Ban gun ownership by anyone convicted of a “hate crime” misdemeanor
- Expand the time limit for completing a NICS background check from 3 to 10 days
- Incent all 50 states to enact “red flag” confiscation laws
- Incent all 50 states to require licensing for gun ownership and purchases
- Enact a federal “safe storage” law
- Enact a federal law mandating “prompt reporting” of lost or stolen firearms
- Prohibit the use of federal funds to train teachers to shoot and carry firearms
If the GOP’s lawsuits are unsuccessful and the current result stands, Biden won’t be inaugurated until January. In the mean time, gun owners and those who care about Second Amendment rights will be closely watching North Carolina and Georgia. And the demand for firearms, parts and ammunition will increase even beyond the record-breaking pace we’ve already seen through most of 2020.
Buckle up. It’s going to get very bumpy.