Joe Biden did not say he was going to nuke the citizens of the United States. It makes great clickbait, but you can’t stretch your imagination enough to turn what he said/stammered into a threat against We the People.
If we look at what he was trying to say instead of how he said it, it’s easy to see that he was trying to communicate that if you wanted to overthrow the government, you’d need to be armed with more than a Glock with a high-capacity magazine.
And, if that’s what he was trying to say, he’d be correct.
The bigger issue here isn’t nukes and F-15’s. The real issue is that the “President” of the United States isn’t capable of communicating without requiring the listener to assume what he was trying to say. I was going to say “read between the lines” but oftentimes when he speaks there are no lines to read between.
But, we all know that and I’ve talked about it numerous times before. So, today I’m going to focus on a couple of his comments on gun control.
Rogue Gun Dealers
Joe talked about “rogue gun dealers”. Apparently, there is a secret cabal of licensed gun dealers whose sole purpose is to illegally distribute weapons. Maybe they’re the ones supposedly hanging out at gun shows handing out AR-15’s like candy to anyone who buys an LED flashlight or a laser pointer.
Now, if he wanted to say that there are “illegal arms sales”, I could go along with that. There are undoubtedly Bubbas and Tyrones who sell weapons from a van down by the river. What we have there is criminals selling guns to criminals. Which clearly happens. But let’s not legitimize them by calling them “gun dealers”.
The vast majority of licensed gun dealers are honest, law-abiding people. Sure, there are always going to be a few legitimate gun dealers who will do back door sales. But that problem is dwarfed by the black-market trade. Biden and his team are trying to make people believe that the licensed gun dealers are the problem while completely ignoring the Bubbas and Tyrones of the world selling illegal weapons to criminals.
The Biden administration can’t admit that criminals are responsible for committing crimes because that doesn’t mesh well with their “defund the police” narrative. So, they distract people by waving the “licensed gun dealers are bad” message in front of them.
Background Checks
According to Joe, background checks have kept more than 3 million weapons out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them. OK. I have no reason to doubt the number (other than that it came from him), so let’s assume that it’s true.
Who are the people the weapons are being kept from? How many of those 3 million weapons were being purchased by people who pose no real threat to anyone?
There are a lot of non-violent felonies on the books. For example, tax evasion is a felony. Being convicted of a felony makes you a convicted felon, but that doesn’t make you dangerous. If the background checks are stopping tax evaders from buying .22’s to shoot squirrels, that’s not necessarily making the world a safer place. Unless you happen to be a squirrel.
If someone goes to a gun store to buy a weapon, they assume that they’re OK to buy one. If they’re not, the background check flags them and the sale doesn’t go through. That’s how it’s supposed to work so no one should be surprised when it does. A background check will stop an I-didn’t-realize-I-was-a-felon felon from purchasing a weapon.
Here’s the thing. Background checks do not stop all felons from legally buying a gun. Background checks only stop convicted felons from legally buying a gun.
Using the example of our tax evader, even if he hasn’t been caught, he’s still committing a felonious act. In other words, he’s still a felon. He’s just not a convicted felon. So, Mr. Tax Evader could walk into any store and legitimately buy a gun.
Any felon, convicted or free-range, who has any sense at all won’t try to buy a gun from their friendly neighborhood gun dealer. Because legally buying a weapon creates a paper trail that could lead right back to them. The smart/dangerous felons will buy their weapons from their local Bubba or Tyrone who never do background checks. Because that’s what criminals do.
In Conclusion…
As usual, the government is focusing on the wrong problem. We can eliminate 99% of illegal gun sales by being tougher on crime, and stopping criminals from selling guns to criminals. That’s where the focus should be. Instead, they’ve blown out of proportion the remaining, and much more difficult to solve, 1% of the problem, which, I guess, will also make the world a safer place.
Especially if you’re a squirrel.
Related Articles:
The Solution to Gun Violence
Rewriting the 2nd Amendment
