There's always a question as to whether President Joe Biden really means what he says or if he even understands the words coming from his mouth. That conceded, it's wise to take seriously the threats of powerful people who have the means to at least attempt to impose their will on others.
And that brings us to the president's recent vow to ban semiautomatic firearms, a vast category covering some of the country's most popular guns. It's a bold goal, not only in its scope, but also because it's probably unconstitutional and bound to alienate millions of Americans.
โThe idea we still allow semiautomatic weapons to be purchased is sick. It's just sick,โ President Bidenย insistedย on November 24 after a photo-op with firefighters in Nantucket, Mass. โIt has no, no social redeeming value. Zero. None. Not a single, solitary rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturers.โ
Maybe Biden just meant military-looking semiautomatic rifles since, when asked how he planned to accomplish his agenda during the lame-duck session of Congress after his party lost the House, he answered: โI'm going to try to get rid of assault weapons.โ But โassault weaponโ is anย arbitrary termย defined by mostly cosmetic characteristics. Bans on such guns areย easily evaded, and produceย little or no reduction in the crimes that supposedly motivate restrictions. Besides, the president mentioned โassault weaponsโ only as a step to addressing the availability of โsemiautomatic weapons.โ
Lots of Americans disagree with Biden's broad claim that semiautomatic firearms, which fire one shot with each squeeze of the trigger and chamber a new round without need for the user take extra action, have โno social redeeming value.โ They purchase semiautomatic pistols, rifles, and shotguns for self-defense, hunting, and target-shooting. And they purchase them in vast numbers.
โSemi-automatics account for about 20 percent of the 300 million privately-owned firearms in the United States and the percentage is quickly rising, because semi-automatics now account for about 50 percent of all new firearms bought annually,โ the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Actionย estimatedย in 2013.
The motivation for gun-ownership has also shifted in recent decades, reinforcing demand for the firearms the president disdains.
โGuns began as tools of necessity in the colonies and on the frontier, but evolved into equipment for sport hunting and shooting, as well as desired commodities for collecting,โ Wake Forest University sociologist David Yamaneย wrote in a 2017 paper. โAlthough recreation remains an important segment, the central emphasis of U.S. gun culture has gradually shifted to armed self-defense over the course of the past half-century.โ
We've seen that shifting emphasis inย eased concealed-carry lawsย around the country, includingย reciprocal recognitionย by states of each other's carry permits, and the adoption of permit-less carry so that people can exercise their rights without asking permission. Semiautomatic pistols of various calibers and capacities are much preferred over revolvers, the main alternative handgun type, for self-defense with the market responding to consumer tastes.
According to theย Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosivesย (which doesn't distinguish between different types of rifles and shotguns in its reports, but does break out semiautomatic pistols from revolvers), of the 3.6 million handguns manufactured in the United States in 2019 (the most recent year for which data is available), about 84 percent were semiautomatic. Those pistols certainly increase the share of civilian-owned firearms represented by semiautomatics. And banning those pistols would face significant constitutional challenges.
โThe Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home,โ the U.S. Supreme Court held inย District of Columbia v. Hellerย (2008). โThe District's total ban on handgun possession in the home amounts to a prohibition on an entire class of โarms' that Americans overwhelmingly choose for the lawful purpose of self-defense. Under any of the standards of scrutiny the Court has applied to enumerated constitutional rights, this prohibitionโin the place where the importance of the lawful defense of self, family, and property is most acuteโwould fail constitutional muster.โ
Couldย Americans use revolvers instead of semiautomatics for self-defense? Sure. But they โoverwhelmingly chooseโ pistols when given the option.
The Supreme Court has yet to weigh-in on semiautomatic rifles, scary-looking โassault weaponโ of the AR-15 variety (termed โmodern sporting riflesโ by the industry) or otherwise. But โapproximately half of all rifles produced in 2017 were modern sporting rifles,โ the National Shooting Sports Foundationย notedย in 2019. It's impossible to argue that Americans don't โoverwhelmingly chooseโ such weapons, too.
โGood for both home and battle, the AR-15 is the kind of versatile gun that lies at the intersection of the kinds of firearms protected underย District of Columbia v. Heller,โ U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez wrote last year in anย early decisionย for a still-pending challenge to California's gun restrictions. The final decision will need to reflect this year's U.S. Supreme Court guidance inย Bruenย that โwhen the Second Amendment's plain text covers an individual's conduct, the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct, and to justify a firearm regulation the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with the Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.โ
So, President Biden's bold goal of making โsemiautomatic weaponsโ unavailable is probably well beyond his grasp without serious changes to the Constitution. Even if he achieved those, how would he convince the millions of people who โoverwhelmingly chooseโ the tools he doesn't like to get on board?
Millions of semiautomatic weapons are already in private hands. Gun owners have demonstrated their willingness toย ignore restrictions, as seen in theย 5 percent compliance rateย for New York's โassault weaponโ registration law and the overwhelming defiance that metย California'sย andย New Jersey'sย bans on such guns. โMore than a year after New Jersey imposed the toughest assault-weapons law in the country, the law is proving difficult if not impossible to enforce,โย The New York Timesย reportedย in 1991.
More recently, Americans have taken toย making their own firearmsย to hobble restrictive laws.
Even generously assuming he knows what he's talking about, the most President Biden can accomplish by pushing for a ban on semiautomatic weapons is to increase confrontations between enforcers and the public. That's if he isn't just thwarted in his efforts by constitutional protections for individual rights. The genie isn't going back into the bottle.
Read this article in its entirety at Reason.
7 Comments
This article falsely claims 300 million firearms in civilian hands. That number was a good guess perhaps 12 years ago and has been the number quoted ever since. But since then, between 15 and 20 million firearms have been sold annually through FFL licensees. That is, over 200 million total on top of the 300 million. Current, but truly unknown, number estimates have been in excess of 450 million but that number is likely very low. The number is likely closer to 600 million. That number is one our government fears.
That is why we need a 75% cut in government employment. Make sure they understand there is no chance for them if they do not serve the people.
Strong – even the 600 million figure you cite is likely off by at least 50%. You do know that the bats recently admitted that they have almost a BILLION firearms transaction records ‘on file’ based on info from form 4473 even though they are prohibited by FEDERAL law from maintaining such records.
Who, and why was the killing of animals that live in the wild , named or declared; Sport Hunting ? The need to hunt and kill animals may be necessary for humans who reside in remote areas where food is not readily obtainable, but random killing of defenseless animals for sport, is tantamount to murder. Perhaps โsport huntingโ should be banned, or studied more closely from a more humane perspective,and deemed unacceptable as a reason for gun ownership.
Oh shut up. You are a fool. Hunting licenses are strictly managed to stop animal over population and manage health populations.
Unless you want bears and wolves eating you in the parking lot at work you should be happy the population is controlled.
Morons like you city-dwelling low life’s should stay out of conversations you know zero about.
Of course Biden wants to ban all automatic weapons. The end game for the left is to ban all guns, and dramatically reduce the power and freedoms of the people. They want obsequious subjects.
Once again here we have biden and the democrats breaking the law.
Corruption just runs rampant like the poop coming out of bidens diaper.
When are you stupid sheeple going to learn. Democrats are bad for you.