By Larry Keane
The debate stage in Charleston, S.C. was the place to be Tuesday night for Democratic presidential candidates who wanted to demonstrate their lack of firearms knowledge and Americans’ Second Amendment rights.
There certainly were a lot of words and crosstalk during the heated back-and-forth between candidates on the criminal misuse of firearms. However, the candidates’ platforms included wildly false statements, tired scare language and egregiously wrong facts. Unfortunately for the American people, the debate offered gun control platitudes, not serious answers voters deserve.
Biden Targets Manufacturers
Former Vice President Joe Biden, desperate to make South Carolina his vaunted firewall, used firearms as a verbal bludgeon. He attacked U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) vote against the Brady background check bill in the 1990s. His gun-control highlight reel continued as he thundered a warning shot to firearms manufacturers if elected, bellowing, “I’m coming for you, and gun manufacturers, I’m going to take you on and I’m going to beat you.”
Former Vice President Biden also reminded the national audience he supported the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, even though it did nothing to reduce crime. He tried to paint Sen. Sanders at fault because he once voted for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.
Doing that, though, he reminded the audience that frontrunner Sen. Sanders can’t be trusted because he once supported gun rights only to change his platform to meet the radical gun control elements of his base. Biden’s dinger for the night, though, was grossly overstating that 150 million Americans died by wrongful gun use since 2007. No, Joe – half the U.S. population didn’t die due to guns in the last thirteen years.
Sen. Sanders’ Laundry List
Sen. Sanders might want to ban so-called assault weapons, but he was firing off gun control myths at rapid-fire. Sen. Sanders rattled off a series of groaners “Right now, my view is we need to expand background checks, end the gun show loophole, and do what the American people want, not what the NRA wants.”
The senator knows there’s no such thing, that firearms sold at shows by retailers are subject to the same background checks as in stores. His demand for universal background checks is really a call to ban the private transfer of firearms, even among close relatives. When. Sen. Sanders says he wants a so-called “assault weapons” ban, he’s purposefully conflating semiautomatic modern sporting rifles with those used by the military.
Buttigieg Blunders
Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg used his time to call for a ban on “anything remotely like what I trained on …” Buttigieg, a former Navy Reservist, invoked the scare-tactic language often used against modern sporting rifles. As a veteran, he knows or at least should know, the difference between the military rifle and an MSR.
Buttigieg purposefully misstates that the MSR fires only one bullet per each pull of the trigger, just like handguns and shotguns. That’s not a surprise to those who legally and safely own and use the more than 17.7 million in circulation today.
Other Stray Shots
The four other candidates spoke up as well, mostly stating similar inaccuracies. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg touted his gun control groups Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action and also recently tweeted “Every day, 100 Americans are killed by guns.” He arrives at that figure by lumping together criminal misuse of firearms with suicides to justify his gun-grabbing agenda.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren said she could enact her grand plan for gun control if the Senate would just eliminate the filibuster. This would entail a series of crippling taxes on firearm and ammunition, an age-based gun ban, a national license to exercise Second Amendment rights and repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.
Outsider billionaire Tom Steyer blamed the inability to move gun control on corporate greed, insisting congressional terms limits are needed to get it done. Lastly, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar reminded the audience she “has the receipts” for gun control, and would ensure domestic abusers can’t buy an AK-47 and that she authored the bill to close the “boyfriend loophole” of domestic abusers.
The only coherent message from the field of candidates is they’re aiming squarely at knocking down the rights of law-abiding gun owners instead of addressing crime.
Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
These unconstitutional views should eliminate these types of idiots from holding any public office since they pledge to violate their oaths and our civil rights.
*should
Is there anyone who was suprised by anything that was said on that stage that night?
The only people watching it are reporters, and their target audience.
Nothing new to Patriots.
I’m just here with my taters waiting for the BBQ.
I was shocked, mouth hit the floor, and was completely taken off guard and by surprise! 🤔😲
I didn’t see this coming a mile away…
Maybe they are trying to hide the fact they have no other policies. No policies for the economy, trade, foreign affairs, unemployment, tax reform, labor relations, energy, environment, resources, rural sector, etc.
I think I’ll just mail in my ballot for Trump this week and call it done.
I’m having more fun watching the DNC soil themselves over the prospect that Bernie might end up being the Dem candidate. Trump will walk all over him in the presidential debates.
BTW, this whole coronavirus market meltdown is – aside from the legitimately serious human toll – a gift to Trump, as the inevitable correction has been triggered by something non-political (a medical scare originating within China), and can run its course during this election year without making him look like the incompetent nincompoop the Dems were hoping he’d be.
Biden said something like ‘imagine if we took away the liability from the pharmaceutical companies, imagine the carnage that would cause’….it’s awesome because Reagan did exactly that in 1986. Way to keep up Joe.
Forgot to mention. 150,000,000 killed by people using firearms. Add to the list one more thing Slow Joe can’t do. Count.
The counting was paid for with tax dollars and subcontracted to a Ukrainian company that further subcontracted the counting to a firm owned by Biden’s son.
Most Democrat debates, regardless of topic, tend to be fact free.
These are the politicians that give criminals and illegals a free hand to get away with just about anything they want and protect them as well. Then they use gun confiscation rhetoric as a cure to the problems that they themselves created. Protect the guilty and punish the innocent. Nothing new.
Whenever any politician opens their pie hole, the area becomes a fact free zone.
With their arms raised like nazis debating democrats reach into their Jim Crow playbook and pull out the same old racist gun control they concocted to prevent Black Americans from exercising their Constitutional Rights. Frankly America can get along just fine without the sicko democrat party. Before they go the party should be held liable for monetary reparations.
The excitement of The People for President Bernie is palpable.
The People will finally have their chains of oppression broken, and a new world order where meth is legal and guns are banned, where trannys instruct children in libraries how to twerk, where migrant POC get top tier health care while white elderly are left to die without dignity, where women finally get the drive thru abortion facilities they deserve, where FBI trained Antifa patrol the streets for fascists, and the govt imposes the 90% tax rates The People so desperately need and want.
The Message Of Bernie is resounding. Will you join the MOB? Or will you face the wrath of the MOB?
Will you get help for the TDS? Or will you face the wrath of living in your mom’s basement with your mental dosorder?
Peter (Up the) But Gig must have been deep throating his M4. The ”ones like he trained on” aren’t available to US citizens. Thank Goodness Mayor Peter (Eater) is dropping out. I shudder to think ButtGig winning would mean we have to change FLOTUS to FFOTUS (First Faggot Of The United States).😂