Joe Biden podium lectern
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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By Emily Taylor

As of March 2021, President Joe Biden had already signed 37 executive orders. Recently, he confirmed that he’s looking at his options for executive orders to control firearms.

“Can we expect any gun control executive orders soon?” he was asked at a press conference on March 26.

“Well, we’re looking at that right now,” he responded. “We’re looking at what kind of authority I have relative to imported weapons, as well as whether or not I have any authority to—these new weapons that are being made by 3D equipment that aren’t registered as guns at all, there may be some latitude there as well.”

Now, after much delay and anticipation, comes reports that the President will announce executive orders impacting gun rights tomorrow.

The President’s attitude toward the Second Amendment hasn’t been met positively by the majority of people across the country. According to an ABC/Ipsos poll from March 28, 2021, 57% of Americans disapprove of how President Biden is handling gun violence.

But it doesn’t stop there. He’s being pressured by lawmakers to take executive action—such as reclassifying the Ruger AR-556 pistol as a rifle—and fast. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that executive orders were in the President’s playbook.

“When the President was the Vice President in the Obama-Biden administration, he helped put in place 23 executive actions to combat gun violence,” Psaki said at one of the daily press conferences. “It’s one of the levers that we can use—that any federal government, any President can use to help address the prevalence of gun violence and address community safety around the country.”

With 37 executive orders already on the books, will he sign one on gun control? If so, how might a potential executive order affect you, the law-abiding gun owner?

The Authority of the President

The President of the United States of America has the ability to issue executive orders. In fact, executive orders can be traced all the way back to this country’s first President, George Washington. An executive order is a means of issuing federal directives by the President to manage the operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources.

The authority of the President to issue an executive order is not expressly stated in the United States Constitution, but rather implied. This implied power comes from Article II, Section 1, which states: “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” Furthermore, Section 3 of Article II states that the President “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”

In some cases, the President has statutory authority to issue executive orders, as codified in Title 3 of the Code of Federal Regulations with the force of law. Although the President does not need Congressional approval to issue an executive order, Congress can revoke an executive order by enacting new laws subject to the President’s veto power or withholding federal funding. Executive orders are not, however, without limitations and are subject to legal review by the federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Extraordinary Power of Presidential Orders

Although executive orders are directives to the government and federal agencies—rather than individuals—many historic examples demonstrate the impact on individual rights. If an agency is forced to change a policy because of an executive order, then that policy can directly affect the average American.

In the many years since our founding as a country, there have been some noteworthy executive orders issued by Presidents that greatly affected people; some severely limited their rights under the Constitution and seem outright antithetical to our American ideals today. Here are some noteworthy examples:

  • President Harry Truman: Faced with a massive strike by the steel industry during the Korean War, President Truman signed Executive Order 10340 on April 8, 1952. This order allowed the Secretary of Commerce to take possession of certain American steel mills and ordered all federal agencies to assist as necessary in the plant and facility seizures. This was quickly ruled by the Supreme Court to be unconstitutional.
  • President Woodrow Wilson: Demonstrating that executive orders can impact specific aspects of life—even hunting—through Executive Order 1884, President Wilson made hunting with the use of a “lantern, torch, bonfire, or other artificial light” a misdemeanor offense. Furthermore, Wilson signed many other executive orders covering hiring, anti-corruption efforts, telegraph and wireless services, and postal crimes, and he even got involved in the day-to-day operations of the Panama Canal Zone… all by executive order.
  • President Abraham Lincoln: President Lincoln took a drastic and controversial step to sign an executive order that suspended habeas corpus and the right of the accused to report unlawful detention. This was done to stop a Southern-sympathizing legislator from blocking the movement of Union troops to Washington, which was virtually undefended at the start of the Civil War. While the initial order only allowed for warrantless arrest between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., President Lincoln also suspended habeas corpus and imposed martial law in Kentucky on July 5, 1864.
  • President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Through Executive Order 9066, President Roosevelt authorized the detention of more than 110,000 Japanese Americans. Taken mostly from the West Coast, approximately 60% of those interned were American citizens who were denied the right of habeas corpus and placed in detention facilities because of their Japanese ancestry.

Gold, Guns, and Presidential Orders

Another noteworthy FDR action occurred on April 5, 1933, when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 6102, requiring Americans to surrender their gold (other than gold jewelry, gold coins, and a very small amount of gold bullion) to the government for payment of the then prevailing value of the gold surrendered.

If you could be forced to surrender gold by executive order, is it a stretch to think that guns could be handled the same way?

To date, a mandatory buyback has never been attempted. One failed 2020 presidential candidate memorably proclaimed during a debate in Houston, “Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15, your AK-47.” Could this candidate have been thinking of a possible executive order?

Joe Biden sign executive order
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Beyond executive orders, the President has other executive powers such as issuing a proclamation and/or memorandum. A recent example of this is the banning of bump stocks. In 2018, President Donald Trump used his executive power, through memorandum, to require the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to ban bump stocks by changing their regulations.

Of course, President Trump is not the first to use his executive power to restrict firearms. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, President Barack Obama issued several executive actions involving gun control. These actions included:

  1. Directing federal agencies to share background check information with one another.
  2. Giving money to the states for sharing background check information.
  3. Reviewing the criteria of who should be prohibited from purchasing, possessing, or transferring firearms and ammunition.
  4. Launching a “safe and responsible” gun ownership campaign.
  5. Requiring federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
  6. Clarifying that doctors, under the Affordable Care Act, may ask their patients about guns in their homes.

In Conclusion

Executive orders are a powerful tool of government that can easily change depending on the particular Commander-in-Chief and their desired policies. What will Biden do with his power?

With over half of Americans polled voicing their disapproval on how President Biden is handling gun laws, your guess is as good as ours. But given his recent comments, law-abiding gun owners should brace themselves for executive orders that might possibly impact their daily lives.

 

Emily Taylor is a partner with Walker & Taylor, PLLC

 

 

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92 COMMENTS

  1. He has a better chance of getting pregnant than of getting my gun, even though most of the country will tell him to go F&k himself.

    • I say he should go for it. Biden, Harris, Pelosi, Schumer, Feinstein, et al…they should all go in on gun control.

      That way, the anger from affected Americans will be enough to swing that pendulum heavily during the Midterm elections in 2022, enough to oust quite a few traitors Democrats. Plus, there will be enough litigative challenges to Biden to choke a horse.

      Fun fact: nearly all of CA’s major gun control laws have already been declared unconstitutional at one point or another. The only reason so many are still being enforced is because Sacramento is highly skilled in the strategy of appeals, which keeps things stagnated for years.

      • I have no faith that votes are being reliably counted. All we need another mass illness event to fully “justify” mail in ballots.

        • “All we need another mass illness event to fully “justify” mail in ballots.”

          That’s a real danger.

          One thing we can do is keep repeating, over, and over, “If I need a picture ID to buy a gun, no exceptions, no excuses, then you need a picture ID to vote, no exceptions, no excuses…”

        • It actually is funny in a way that so many people get their panties in a bunch over picture IDs to vote. When I lived in Illinois you had to get a FOID card which you PAID FOR to exercise a RIGHT to keep and bear Arms. It not only had your picture on it but it cost you money. The argument from the Left about Georgia and voting is that many don’t have picture IDs.
          I find that argument ridiculous.

          Offer IDs for free and then you wont have rigged elections. In Illinois I had to vote by mail ONCE and they compared my signature to the one on my DL. I paid for that DL so in effect I paid to vote. No ID then you don’t get to vote, it seems pretty simple to me.

          This last election was the first election “week” instead of election day. Mystery ballots were just appearing out of nowhere. These people are unreal but I moved out of Illinois and I’m not saying where I live now. I brought my guns with me and a lot of them were purchased when you just had to keep FOID info for 10 years.

          A lot were bought and transferred through an FFL. That FFL is still in business in Illinois so he hasn’t turned the 4473s over to ATF. He also has never made as much money doing transfers as he did last year. It would take that ATF decades to try and figure out who owns what if they can. By that time SCOTUS will hear any 2A cases. Biden will have been dead of dementia for many years when that happens.

        • Offer IDs for free and then you wont have rigged elections

          Georgia is offering free photo IDs to residents who do not possess any of the required forms of ID and who qualify for a free voter identification card. These cards are available from any County Registrar’s Office, or any Georgia Drivers Licensing Service Center, free-of-charge.

        • All that is missing is a white sheet, pointed hat and a burning cross to make Jim Crow Gun Control democRat joe a total tyranical pos.

    • Whose responsible for this current situation with the Democrats in control of every branch of the Federal government but for the Supreme Court?

      His last name starts with a “T”.

        • If it hasn’t occurred to you, due to his behavior and failures of policy Trump lost support among a very large number of conservatives, including me, and independents and, as a result, lost the election.

          I’m surely in good company among the millions of conservative-oriented thinkers who came to despise him to the point of just staying home on voting day.

          Biden’s no picnic, either. I couldn’t vote for him…or Trump. Just stayed home in disgust at the crappy choices I was presented on election day. Apparently, as I said above, I was in good company as many conservatives did the same.

          Now, about the future…it’s clear to me that the insecurity many to most Americans feel about the general state of the U.S. economy, lack of fealty by the Democrats to the Constitution especially to the clear wording of the 2nd Amendment, the increase in violence in Democrat controlled cities by de-funding the police and (I’m in Texas) the incredibly dangerous surges of “immigrants” across the border with Mexico will turn the tables on the Democrats at the mid-terms.

          Biden will prove to be as ineffective a leader as Trump and the midterms will show that I’m right.

        • David Walters…..Congratulations. Strut Your Stuff!!! You have achieved Useful Idiot Supreme Status. Regarding voting, you are right in there with the Government Plantation Useful Idiot Dwellers. I didn’t vote for Trump eitherof two elections for same reasons as you didn’t vote for Trump. However, I sure as hell voted against Obummer x2, Clinton, and Xiden/KamelHo. Holding one’s nose to vote for the lesser of two evils, still beats casting a tacit vote for the worse of two evils. At least Trump/anti-Xiden vote would hold place in the downfall of America , rather than the other choice which just assisted accelerating America down the Socialism chasm.

        • There’s no such thing as a tacit vote, but perhaps in your imagination.

          If I’m served for a dinner of spoiled meat that smells like crap along with a substantial helping of human excrement in an accompanying bowl and have to choose between the two…

          …I’ll just leave.

          Let me remind you that it was not my lone non-vote that made Trump lose the election. Many millions of conservatives felt the same way as I do, apparently, and stayed home. Please let that figure into your thinking and let it inform your condemnation of the many millions like me who just stayed home.

        • David Walters, you are completely correct. I’m totally in error, my bad, really, really old guy. You whipper snappers got “it gonnin’ on.” Between that described tasty meal or Trump vote, you’ll just starve. That’ll show ’em. YEAH!!! You go for it, Useful Supreme. You actually became irrelevant last November, and don’t even have a clue. Your vote, or non-vote, no longer means any thing. Libtards have taken voter fraud to a new level. And, with HR1 passage, it will be perfected. No one’s “Vote-For-Show” will ever matter again….unless it involves a ‘BANG.”

  2. Can a Biden Presidential Executive Order Take Away Your Guns?

    NO!! and not only NO but HELL NO!!

    • Xiden won’t, but he’s already told us he’ll send Butto O’Dork first through the door of confiscation. Just shut up and listen. They always tell us what their strategy will be.

  3. Hands,elbows, knees, and feet. Let’s mandate background checks for these son to be dangerous appendages. Anyone can just go on the Internet and learn how to use a knee to kill someone.

    • Lethal Limbs….yeah you are technically correct, but tactically naive. Up close and personal, you would probably kick my ass. I’m a really, really old guy far beyond humping up mountains or hacking through jungles with 120lbs of gear, or clearing structures in CQB. But, at long range overwatch don’t poke your appendages out. Appendages can be lethal in a close up encounter. But, put a rifle up against your appendages at 25-2000yds. Implement your appendage threat from 2000yds, I’ll have a tasty light snack, wash it down,
      quench my thirst, check my gig line, and eliminate your appendage threat at still well over 100-500yds. Que lifeless, out of breath lump; LMAO; acquire next “Karate Kid.” Rinse, repeat, as needed. Difference is that appendages will do little to liberate America. Politicians don’t fear your appendages. Your appendages do nothing to conjure “save us; do something” fear in the Useful Idiot Masses’ minds. But, politicians fear Patriots with AR-15s, “high capacity” magazines, and yet to be expressed, rifles effective at extreme long range……at least when in the hands of We The Little Peeps. But, they will get there. Here, they can play with little Snowflake minds. Trust me. It’s LAYER demonization, banning, attempted confiscation. History has repeatedly taught this. Establish disarmament desensitization in masses and move the agenda forward. Seriously, I admire your hand combat skills. Just pulling your leg, and pondering reality.

  4. Easy question. Answer is “Not without bloodshed.” So much bloodshed that I think the object of saving lives would be obviated.

  5. Biden’s executive orders on guns will be limited and many will be injuncted by the courts and others will eventually meet the fate that the bump stock ban recieved from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

    Just like many of Trump’s executive orders, litigation will continue past the 2024 election cycle.

    • “…and others will eventually meet the fate that the bump stock ban recieved from the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

      That takes *time*, and you can still be prosecuted until then…

      • “…on TTAG as well as several other sites.”

        What other sites?

        Please, please, *PLEASE* tell me, what other sites?

        (And BTW, deal with your own inability get laid, sonny… 😉 )

      • I had almost forgotten this idiot troll existed. Looks like I might get to post some more video links. 😀

      • Having that fvckwit around as punching bag is such *delicious* fun, isn’t it, Mr. Ing?

        Oh, and widdle troll, a few days ago, someone who runs TTAG ERASED your pathetic comment mewlings.

        How did you like them apples, boy? 😉

  6. You can forget the atheists. But the christians can pray for the children and families of the
    police. When their husbands, fathers, and now the mothers, come to take the guns of law abiding citizens.

    • Make no mistake LE will choose the lives of their family members over enforcement, They understand who the targets of the Resistance will be. In the War for Freedom there are No Non Combatants. WWII proved if you want to Win everyone is a target. Once the World Got Civilized(sic) and stopped the practice. The United States hasn’t Won a War/Conflict since and Enemies just bide their time and work for a high body count. Knowing the people will grow weary of the loss and protest for and end even if it is in defeat.

      • So here is hypothetical question for you, Darkman: What is to stop Joe & the Hoe from brining in UN (or Chinese?) troops in to enact gun confiscation? I do not think it would be out of the realm of possibilities, with as crazy as this country is getting these days.

        • What is to stop Joe & the Hoe from brining in UN (or Chinese?)

          Two things (1) To use Chinese military would require a “treaty” under article II of the Constitution and also would require a 2/3rds vote from the Senate… (B) How many Chinese (this ain’t Hong Kong) or U.N. troops would have to die before they decided that Creepy old Beijing Biden just is not worth it…

        • Some people would have qualms about killing their fellow citizens. They wouldn’t have a problem with Chicoms, European socialists, and assorted Third Worlders. The light blue helmets scream shoot me. There’s also a greater chance of the military rebelling and fighting the foreign invaders.

        • Make No Mistake the public would soon grow weary of the body count and destruction regardless of the Who, What, Where. The Fight for Freedom means Total War. If it is the enemy and moves Kill It. If it doesn’t blow it up and burn it down. People today have No Concept of what Total War looks like, Feels Like and Smells like. It becomes a two sided War. You are either an Allie or a Enemy. There is No middle ground. It is best summed up by the words of The Outlaw Josie Wales:“Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean. ‘Cause if you lose your head and you give up then you neither live nor win. That’s just the way it is.” Everyone must choose their lot in life. Some will choose Complacent Cowardice because their fear is greater than their will to be Free. Some will hope to set on the sidelines and remain undecided and yet will suffer the fate of the masses. Some will choose Courageous Sacrifice for something Greater than themselves that they may never see. Freedom…Yet for them it is worth the cost for they wish to pass on to their descendants a Nation free of Tyrannical Rule. “I prefer peace. But if trouble must come, let it come in my time, so that my children can live in peace”. Thomas Paine. I choose to live or die for Freedom rather than to live under Tyranny and die with regret.

        • Shadow:

          From your mouth to God’s ear. Gropey Joe pulls that ish, and there’ll never be another Dimocrat elected outside of NY, Seattle, SF, or Portland. If you trust polls AT ALL (and I mostly don’t; I know too much about how polls are done), just his EOs alone have virtually insured he (or more importantly, Kneepads Harris) have no chance of re-election, and the midterms are going to be a bloodbath. Last but not least, blue helmets make EXCELLENT targets.

          Sidenote to Darkman: I like that Paine guote, but I prefer this paraphrase of a statement from Robert A. Heinlein: “I prefer peace; but I REQUIRE liberty.”

  7. His administration could just go for broke and ban semi automatic rifles, along with normal capacity magazines.
    Who cares if it is legal or or not.
    Of course then it will need to go through the legal challenges.
    Of course Congress will walk about packing SCOTUS again to threaten the current jurists.
    If we are lucky it would go to SCOTUS and rule in our favor putting an end to state held bans.

    • “His administration could just go for broke and ban semi automatic rifles, along with normal capacity magazines.”

      Thanks to the Senate Parliamentarian giving the nod to new reconciliation, putting *all* semi-automatics on the NFA is a real possibility. Reconciliation is reserved for fiscal uses, and the NFA is a tax, with a tax stamp.

      Sure, years later, the SCOTUS could rule that unconstitutional. But in the meantime, who wants to risk prosecution?

  8. He can sign anything he wants.
    We will not comply.
    Even the Connecticut cowards didn’t register their modern sporting rifles.

  9. This is out right defiance of the US Constitution and as such, deserves impeachment in itself.

    It really is not any more complicated than that.

  10. The Democrats have their boxers in a bunch over their inability to advance their usual death by a thousand cuts gun control agenda. As a result they feel the need to demand all the things they know they will never get. Any EO that demands a turn in of semiautomatic firearms will be laughed at while it gets brought before SCOTUS.

      • “…how long does it take for the case to reach the SCOTUS?”

        It varies, call 10 years a conservative estimate, considering foot-dragging in circuits like the dreaded 9th.

        And who wants to risk federal prison in the meantime?

        • You wouldn’t know what a ‘principled stand’ stand was, since you have no testicles, little boy… 😉

  11. Sloppy writing.

    “According to an ABC/Ipsos poll from March 28, 2021, 57% of Americans disapprove of how President Biden is handling gun violence.”

    and

    “With over half of Americans polled voicing their disapproval on how President Biden is handling gun laws, …”

    So what exactly do we disagree with – the president’s handling of gun violence, or his handling of gun laws? Or, is it two separate polls?

    Also, comparing gold to guns is just silly. Nowhere in the constitution are we granted the right to keep and bear gold.

    This subject is volatile enough without your publishing poorly reasoned opinion.

    • “Nowhere in the constitution are we granted the right to keep and bear gold.” And yet we do have the right to keep and bear it nonetheless. The comparison stands.

        • Exactly. It enumerates a few preexisting rights for the purpose of spelling out what government is — but mostly isn’t — allowed to do to them.

          Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

          Also, confiscating all the gold in the US was arguably worse than gun confiscation, as it struck directly at the heart of the right to have any personal wealth and property at all. And the execrable FDR got away with it. He should’ve been impeached and erased from history textbooks for that alone — or better yet, stood against a wall and shot, and kept in the books as an example to others. Worst president in this nation’s history, and that’s even compared to the hapless Franklin W. Pierce, the feckless Jimmah Carter, and the illegitimate current occupant of that office (although there’s still time for BidenHarris to take the lead).

      • I will agree with you as soon as you post link to the article of the constitution, federal or state statute, or local ordinance that grants (or enumerates) that right.

        Let’s not confuse privileges and allowances with rights.

      • at one time that right was taken away from us but they had to give it back but guns are listed in the Constitution where gold is not

        • Does that make gold — i.e., your right and ability to keep and use your own property and personal wealth — any less important?

  12. Another good question would be, “Can a Biden executive order take away your drill press, machine tools, and 3-D printers?”
    He wants to ban — oops, I mean “require a background check on” — homemade guns, but there is no way to do a background check on what comes out of your home printer, the drill press in your garage, or machine tools, so in effect it’s a total ban on homemade guns, as well as drill presses, 3D printers, and machine tools.

    Such a ban would instantly INCREASE crime, more specifically increase “gun crime”, because it would suddenly label millions of Americans as felons simply for owning a drill press, owning a 3-D printer, or owning a paperweight that could possibly be made into a gun with sufficient time and effort. If he bans 80% lowers, then are 79% lowers okay? Hell no, you know Joe Biden will “close that loophole” by banning 79%, 75%, 50%, 20% lowers (paperweights), and even 0% (zero percent) lowers, otherwise known as metal bricks.

    In case you don’t know what they look like, here is a 20% lower (a paperweight that looks vaguely like an AR-15 receiver). The seller says, “Unless you are an experienced machinist, this is a novelty item,” but it is already restricted from shipping to certain commie states, as it says “This item is restricted from shipping to [the People’s Republic of] New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Washington D.C.”:
    https://www.80percentarms.com/products/20-lower-blank-ar-15-lower-receiver-forging/

    And here is a zero percent (0%) lower, otherwise known as a solid brick of aluminum, but the seller won’t ship it to residents of the People’s Republic of New Jersey:
    https://www.80percentarms.com/products/0-billet-ar-15-lower-receiver/
    This brick of aluminum is soon to be banned as an “assault weapon” by Uncle Joe, and its owners shipped off to a gulag.

    • Again, this is why nobody should ever vote for a Democrat. Never, ever, under any circumstances. Not even for the most insignificant of public offices in the most insignificant town. NEVER.

  13. Joe Biden’s EO’s or any other illegal anti-gun legislation only carries weight if you abide by it. Your adherence to the law is what gives it it’s power.

  14. As expected. We will have a Federal court challenge climbing up to the Supreme Court, with a 5.5 to 3.5 vote majority in our favor.

    Donate to Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition for the legal battle ahead!

    I wouldn’t bother giving money to the NRA. Obviously they have what they need for expensive “bespoke” suits, weddings for employee offspring, executive retreats in high fashion neighborhoods, everything except defending the Second Amendment!

  15. Anyone who tries to enforce this bullshit or any of the 22,000+plus examples of the same already on the books does NOT deserve your consideration as anything other than an enemy.
    In fact,they don’t really deserve anything but your complete contempt and non compliance.

  16. Does he have the legal authority? Perhaps.
    Does he have the intention? Absolutely
    Does he have the means? Doubtful.

  17. Not as easy as it seems. The Trump bump stock order was invalidated for good reason – it attempted to redefine terms (machine gun) away from what is found in the statutes (the NFA).

    The current status of Ghost Guns is essentially that they don’t travel in interstate commerce. If and when they do (e.g. you sell one), the NFA (Constitutionally justified under the Commerce Clause) applies (and you needed a FFL to have conducted that sale). Interestingly, in the recent Trump Bump Stock opinion, the government is not given Chevron Deference when interpreting criminal statutes, like the NFA.

    The basics here are that laws are enacted through Congress, signed into law by a President. All that a President can do by himself is to tell the Executive Branch what to do. That means that he cannot directly affect the rights citizens (and resident aliens) have, but rather just how the government acts in relation to the citizenry. Something similar with agency regulations – except they typically must go through a Notice and Comment process (under the APA) plus some other laws.

    The bottom line is that the Executive Branch cannot change statutes without the express approval of Congress. And they cannot change the interpretation of criminal statutes without the approval of the Judiciary. And nothing, so far, that we have seen proposed in EOs, is likely to survive litigation. Not Bump Stocks. Not Ghost Guns. Etc.

    • “That means that he cannot directly affect the rights citizens (and resident aliens) have, but rather just how the government acts in relation to the citizenry.”

      That’s true in theory, but in practice, “how the government acts in relation to the citizenry” can and does include putting people in prison, destroying their livelihood, and even killing them — and that can happen for a long time before litigation catches up, if it ever does.

    • “And nothing, so far, that we have seen proposed in EOs, is likely to survive litigation. Not Bump Stocks. Not Ghost Guns. Etc.”

      That’s completely beside the point, Bruce.

      We can eventually beat the rap, but not the ride downtown, so to speak.

      We get to suffer in the meantime. The real question is, can we dissuade them from crossing that metaphoric Rubicon in the first place?

  18. Legally? Probably not. 6102 was an abomination but it didn’t directly an enumerated right. (Though it’s hilarious how it’s affected the gold market to this day, which is a perfect example of how stupid Americans are but that’s a set of other issues).

    Could it be effective? Sure. As with anything else the Devil’s in the details and the later “mission creep” associated with the program in question and other programs that dovetail with it.

    This has been a continual problem for the last 100+ years. People see the perceived “good” of a rule/law/EO in narrow terms without thinking at all about what else it might do or how it will be abused (which you can almost guarantee that any law/rule the government is allowed to enforce WILL be).

    Which, actually, circling back like a redheaded zombie to the gold thing, this is a good example worth talking about.

    Consider how gold bugs talk about gold. They don’t want bullion. Bars in grams, oz or whatever. This is odd at first glance. They might have a few but serious stackers stack minted coins. Minted coins go for way more than the same mass of gold in a bar, it’s not uncommon to see something like 1oz American Eagles or Aussie “Roos” going for $150 over the sale price for a 1oz bar. Why? It’s exactly the same amount of gold.

    Because 6102 had carveouts for “…and gold coins having a recognized special value to collectors of rare and unusual coins” and “Gold coin and bullion licensed for other proper transactions…”.

    Now why does that matter in terms of how Americans think?

    Because American gold stackers are stupid enough to believe that any new EO or law attacking their gold stash would necessarily contain the same carveout. As such they’re willing to overpay for something that the think was exempt in 1933 and would be with a new “ban”. However, they don’t even bother to read the part of the EO that says this specifically applies ONLY to coins that are “not involving hoarding” which basically by government definition is exactly what gold stackers are doing.

    So their horde isn’t safe. They’re hording which ixnays the the carveout but there need not be a carveout in a new EO/law.

    What, you think cocaine your grandpappy held before sniff became illegal is OK for you to have? It’s not. They can apply that same logic here. And using modern tech they can give it some significant teeth too.

    Which raises the question of if compliance. If you assume that the court system will overrule such an EO the questions then are compliance in the short term, what teeth the put into non-compliance, and what you’re willing to accept on either side of that equation.

    Let’s be real. Most people will comply right away if something like this has teeth in it.

    • “What, you think cocaine your grandpappy held before sniff became illegal is OK for you to have? It’s not.”

      Frighteningly enough, that prohibition is still enforced to this day on gold coins found in safes and safe deposit boxes, from what I understand. You can’t advertise and sell them. You’re still required to hand ’em over.

      Which makes me wonder – When folks come across them today, what’s stopping them from tossing them them in the pawnbroker’s scrap gold melt bucket? Buh-bye, it just bumped the caret value of that melt up a few tics…

      • I wasn’t aware of such enforcement but it wouldn’t shock me.

        But then I’ve spent most of the day on another topic which I find far, far, far more worrying to me than anything on the 2A front.

    • Strych9,

      Remains to be seen. I give you, as historical examples, the reported/estimated “compliance rates” with various gun bans. In CA, NY, NJ and several other deep blue states, the “compliance rates” are in the single digits or low double digits (like, below 15%, and those are based on estimates, and I can almost guarantee they’ve underestimated the number of guns out there, so any “percentage” you see is likely higher than reality). Similar results in Australia and New Zealand. The penalties under ALL of these “bans” and “buy-backs” are significant, and I know CA has been making enforcement efforts (not going door-to-door, of course, but efforts are being made) and New Zealand’s government is having a hissy fit over the compliance rates they’re experiencing.

      Don’t sell our fellow citizens, and particularly our fellow POTG, too short too soon. We may surprise you, yet. As for myself, if I hadn’t lost all my guns in that tragic boating accident, I would have refused to turn them over, period. Unfortunately, my boat tipped over. I drive by that lake a couple times a month, and cry quietly. Too bad, so sad.

  19. Watch for EOs targeting your financial world if you don’t comply with EOs banning guns. EO might shut down your credit cards, bank checking/savings/money market/CD accounts, investment accounts at your broker, Social Security checks, any direct deposits, paychecks, el el. Biden would have more reach over the financial world than the actual guns. And, in our electronic world, no one has to come to your door to shut your world down. How long can you hold out on the change in your pocket? Further actions might involve internet access, phone accounts, your vehicles……electronic engine control…..ONStar. Ultilities next???? After all, you are a criminal in the Left’s eyes. We are more vulnerable than we think.

    • “EO might shut down your credit cards, bank checking/savings/money market/CD accounts, investment accounts at your broker, Social Security checks, any direct deposits, paychecks, el el.”

      No doubt, that’s a real possibility. If it does, though, things will then taken a turn that some folks will not like at all…

    • Those are just a few of the “teeth” I was thinking of in my post.

      They can get A LOT meaner about this if they want to.

      I wasn’t kidding the other day when I said that if they decide to really play hardball they’ll rapidly put people in a “comply, die or flee the country” position.

      And some of these people will do that with a smile on their face. Yet still, some talk of a peaceful coexistence with these people in terms of an “amicable divorce” creating multiple countries. LOL.

      • “comply, die or flee the country” also leads people to fight if they have nothing to lose. If the penalty is a moderate fine and confiscation of contraband, few people will risk their life. In the end, it does nothing to take guns away from criminals since they don’t buy through legitimate channels.

        • I don’t think they worry too much about actual criminals, only thought criminals.

          As for fighting, I kinda doubt that happens. There’s a method to the madness of boiling a group of frogs.

          The way to crank it up and still minimize chances of you doing anything about it, other than eventually complying, dying or fleeing, is exactly the CCP model; they’ll punish you to a point and then move on to your family.

          Sure some people will fight, be marked as “nuts” and shot by the cops. Or they’ll put a bomb on a robot. Or something. Or maybe go full GWOT with Patriot Act 2.0 and declare that everything we did over there is now coming home.

          I’d love to tell you that this is some very remote possibility and it will all somehow work out for the best but at this point I doubt it.

          They have spent a year repeatedly putting out entirely nonsensical bullshit and people eat it up. I suspect that continues.

          I mean fuck man, just go from the hypothesis that CoV-2 is The Plague 2.0. Start there, however you want to define it as “dangerous enough to warrant serious action”.

          Still nothing they do makes sense. And every new step makes less sense. Logically, scientifically… there’s no way to rationally explain nearly any of it at all. If it’s not pure batshit insane it won’t do what they claim it will because doing what they say literally cannot address what they say it’s going to.

          Just… like… gun control… weird eh?

    • “Further actions might involve internet access…We are more vulnerable than we think.”

      When listening to today’s sales pitch for the “American Jobs Plan” a thought occurred to me as he proclaimed repeatedly how “high-speed internet is infrastructure”…

      Maybe he’s planning on going full-Xiden and “providing” broadband internet to all Americans- compliments of the U.S. Gov’t.

      That would be malevolently brilliant- let the government build the infrastructure and provide the high-speed broadband internet… so they have control of the entire system start to finish. How deliciously CCP that would be, eh?!

      Xiden might be laying the cornerstone of our own “Great Firewall”. There’ll be no more need for the gov’t to lean on private providers to supply internet data on, well, everyone to them- Washington will have direct control over the whole damn thing.

      You can even read some of the quiet parts out loud at ‘FACT SHEET: The American Jobs Plan’ online at whitehouse.gov…

      “The President’s plan prioritizes building “future proof” broadband infrastructure…so that we finally reach 100 percent high-speed broadband coverage…prioritizes support for broadband networks owned, operated by, or affiliated with local governments, non-profits, and co-operatives—providers with less pressure to turn profits and with a commitment to serving entire communities…with labor protections and the right to organize and bargain collectively…Biden believes that building out broadband infrastructure isn’t enough…the President recognizes that individual subsidies to cover internet costs may be needed in the short term, he believes continually providing subsidies to cover the cost of overpriced internet service is not the right long-term solution for consumers or taxpayers… the President is committed to working with Congress to find a solution to reduce internet prices for all Americans…”.

      One could get a bad feeling about this…

      “I’ve just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.

      That’s impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?

      The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this [Biden] station.”

  20. HOW MANY GUNS DID OBAMA CONFISCATE WITH EXECUTIVE ORDERS? Zero.

    About the worst he did was get banks to illegally shut down services to business owners. Operation Chokepoint, which is still going on.

    I’m looking forward to what will come out, I won’t be surprised to see it’s mostly fluff and bluff. If Obama was largely neutered by existing law and the Constitution, how much more will Old Joe get done?

    As is he’s actually President.

    And being President does not make you Emperor. Some of yall need to get over the fearmongers jerking your chain yelling “We’re all gonna get confiscated and they are takin our guns!” Save that crap for the next NRA fundraiser.

  21. HOW MANY GUNS DID OBAMA CONFISCATE WITH EXECUTIVE ORDERS? Zero.

    About the worst he did was get banks to illegally shut down services to business owners. Operation Chokepoint, which is still going on.

    I’m looking forward to what will come out, I won’t be surprised to see it’s mostly fluff and bluff. If Obama was largely neutered by existing law and the Constitution, how much more will Old Joe get done?

    As if he’s actually President.

    And being President does not make you Emperor. Some of yall need to get over the fearmongers jerking your chain yelling “We’re all gonna get confiscated and they are takin our guns!” Save that crap for the next NRA fundraiser.

  22. Biden could easily use an EO to declare all semiautos and magazines as “non-sporting,” like GHW Bush did for “assault weapons” in 1989. This would stop the imports and is harder to fight since it’s purely a regulation change that follows the law.

  23. Biden could easily use an EO to declare all semiautos and magazines as “non-sporting,”

    Hmmmmm… 89 was just ATF reiterating the existing import ban from 68, that has nothing to do with Clintons domestic AWB in 94 which shut down sales of the “sporting” rifle until 2004 when Bush 43 allowed the ban to sunset…

  24. Gun control is a firm, 2-handed grip, with a perfect sight picture. What they really need is ‘people control’. That is what’s dangerous in the equation. A gun is an inanimate object, that can lay around forever, without harming anything; until a human being, with feelings, and intelligence, picks it up, and utilizes it in some fashion; sometimes to put food on the table, or to deter some criminal action, defend ones self or another person, OR, to cause harm to another. This last use is what needs to be addressed by the powers that be, NOT the lawful use of the weapon.

    • What they really need is ‘people control’.

      What do you THINK they’re after… The term “gun control” is simply a euphemism, it sounds good, it’s what the people want to hear, but if they told the truth they would ALL be strung up..

  25. This administration is doing so many things against established congressional protocol and rule or order. Even against established constitutional law! I suspect they do it for a reason of antagonizing a majority of the populous to precipitate an uprising that this administration can squash with full force and effect. A flowery way to say piss them off then take them out of the picture by any means necessary. Far fetched? You just wait and see they do not care squat about the midterm elections because the dictatorship will be real and law out the window. I pray our military and supreme court will be strong and courageous. The so-called 4th estate certainly caved in.

  26. Biden “helped put in place 23 executive actions to combat gun violence.”
    And not one had so much as an iota of impact on ‘gun violence’.

    • And that’s your real “tell”, Roger – when pressed, by one of the two or three remaining living journalists, sponsors of these “common sense gun safety” bills proposed after EVERY single mass shooting (unless committed by a Muslim or person of preferred pigmentation; they ignore those) will ADMIT that their sponsored bill would not have prevented the tragedy that caused them to introduce the bill.

      NONE of this male bovine excrement is intended to actually ACCOMPLISH anything. It’s all political theater, all the way down.

  27. Dont believe a guaranteed constitutional right can be superceded by the actions of an unindicted moron who stole the presidency! But I’ve been wrong before!!

  28. Why wasn’t this NEWS? Oh yeah, black shooter uses a 9mm and a .45, “Move along, nothing to see here”…

    ROCK HILL, S.C. — Former NFL player Phillip Adams fatally shot five people including a prominent doctor, his wife and their two grandchildren before later killing himself, authorities said Thursday.

  29. “Can a Biden Presidential Executive Order Take Away Your Guns?”
    No, it will take Armed Government Employees who have no regard for the oaths they swore to protect.

  30. This post will not be popular…but…

    The person who through incredible mismanagement of the powers of the presidency so defeated the Republican Party and the conservative movement as a whole and who, as a result, conceded to the Left the entirety of every branch of the Federal Government but for the Supreme Court has a name that starts with the letter “T”.

    Maybe we could run better candidates in the future?

    • David Walters, you are an absolute idiot…and a “T”roll, FOAD U POS, sorry if this might be offensive to trolls, and democrats

  31. Revolution 2.0 has started. Balls in Biden’s court (or up the VP Ho’s hoohoo).
    Come for my guns anyday and anytime, but you better have a lot of body bags.

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