The White House refused to say on Wednesday if President Joe Biden would support the confiscation of so-called “assault weapons.”
What is the background?
While running for the 2020 Democratic nomination, Beto O’Rourke went farther than any of his fellow Democrats on gun control, pledging that as president he would oversee the confiscation of some guns.
“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” O’Rourke said during a primary debate. “We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans any more.”
What did the WH say on Wednesday?
A reporter asked press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre whether Biden supports taking extreme measures to prevent future massacres. Biden supports gun control and an “assault weapons” ban.
“Does the president support not just banning the sale and manufacture of semi-automatic weapons but, further than that, confiscation?” the reporter asked.
Instead of providing a clarifying and moderate response, Jean-Pierre offered a vague answer, one that is open to interpretation and may suggest that Biden would support the confiscation of some guns.
“Let me just be very clear: What we’re talking about — AR-15s, the assault weapons ban — they are weapons of war, and they should not be on the streets across the country in our communities,” she said. “They should not be in schools. They should not be in grocery stores. They should not be in churches.
“That’s what the president believes,” Jean-Pierre continued. “He’s happy to sign that legislation that says, ‘OK, we’re going to remove assault weapons. We’re going to have an assault weapons ban.'”
03/29/23: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierrewww.youtube.com
But what does it mean to “remove” “assault weapons”? Unfortunately, the reporter did not follow up and Jean-Pierre did not provide any clarification.
The problem, of course, is that if Biden wants to “remove” “assault weapons” from American society, what will the government do about the tens of millions of “assault weapons” already in the possession of law-abiding citizens? Grandfather in those firearms? That seems unlikely considering the idea behind an “assault weapons” ban is to prevent the ownership of such firearms.
Jean-Pierre actually addressed that issue at Wednesday’s briefing, saying it is “unacceptable” to say that “there’s nothing that we can do” because there are too many firearms in circulation.
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