By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
President Joe Biden offered a tepid plea to Congressional Republicans during his address to a sparsely-populated House Chamber to “join with the overwhelming majority of their Democratic colleagues” to make gun control happen because, in his words, “it worked” after Congress passed the so-called “assault weapon ban” of 1994.
A perennial gun control supporter, Biden realizes his gun control agenda will derail unless GOP Senators turn their backs on America’s 100-million-plus gun owners, whose support they will need if they hope to regain control of Capitol Hill in 2022. If Republicans jump ship, they risk being on the losing end for many years to come because gun owners will feel betrayed.
The president will likely be swimming against the current if he expects any support from Republicans, as exemplified by freshman Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, who won her office last year largely on her pro-Second Amendment stance. Reacting to his Wednesday night speech, Boebert tweeted, “Just like Joe Biden pointed out that ‘Build Back Better’ means ‘Build Back Better’, I’ll point out that ‘Shall not be infringed’ means ‘SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED!’”
Biden may also have a credibility problem. Thursday morning, the Arizona Republic/AZCentral ran piece from FactCheck.org on Biden’s remarks noting, “The president claimed the 1994 assault weapons ban, which expired 10 years later, ‘worked,’ but the academic evidence isn’t clear.”
The newspaper then spent 647 words explaining why Biden is treading on thin ice. As noted by the fact check, “Research published in Criminology & Public Policy in January 2020 concluded that assault weapons bans ‘do not seem to be associated with the incidence of fatal mass shootings.’ However, state laws requiring handgun purchasers to obtain a license and state bans of large-capacity magazines did appear to be ‘associated with reductions in fatal mass shootings.’”
The article also said a RAND “review of gun studies, updated in 2020, found there is ‘inconclusive evidence for the effect of assault weapon bans on mass shootings’ and that ‘available evidence is inconclusive for the effect of assault weapon bans on total homicides and firearm homicides.’”
The article went on to quote Andrew Morral, identified as a RAND senior behavioral scientist who told Fact.Check.org in March, “We don’t think there are great studies available yet to state the effectiveness of assault weapons bans. That’s not to say they aren’t effective. The research we reviewed doesn’t provide compelling evidence one way or the other.”
One thing Biden didn’t recall is that after passing the Brady Handgun Law in 1993 and the Clinton Crime Bill in 1994 with the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” Democrats were trounced in the 1994 mid-term election, losing more than 50 seats on Capitol Hill and surrendering control of Congress to Republicans for several years.
In a subsequent tweet Thursday morning, Boebert observed, “Last night, Joe once again tried to make the 2nd Amendment about hunting. It’s not about hunting. It’s about protection from a tyrannical government.” That message elicited several critical reactions, but also garnered support.
A fight over gun control appears inevitable at this point, with the Senate split 50-50 and the House Democrat majority hanging on by a political thread.
