President Joe Biden’s speech Thursday on his favorite subject, gun control, was filled with hyperbole and peppered with outright lies. He also missed the point.
The president chose New York City to make his remarks, a fitting venue given that shootings are on the rise in the Big Apple and crime overall is up 38.5%.
In addition, Tuesday night marked the sixth NYPD officer shot during the year, averaging more than one per week, and the city's second police funeral in less than a week was held Wednesday.
But as usual, with Biden it was all about the guns — beginning with gun manufacturers.
He urged lawmakers to "repeal the liability shield for gun manufacturers."
Biden said, "Imagine had we had a liability — they’re the only industry in America that is exempted from being able to be sued by the public. The only one. Imagine had that been the way with cigarette manufacturers."
He later repeated that claim, stating, "And, folks, you know, it’s the only industry in America, as I said, that’s exempt from being sued," adding, "I find it to be outrageous."
Except it’s not true.
If a weapon is sold with a design flaw or manufacturing defect that causes injury or death, the gunmaker would be held financially responsible under product liability laws — just like a carmaker would also be liable for damages sustained from a design flaw or manufacturing defect.
Biden was referring to the 2005 Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which protects gunmakers from liability when their products are illegally used — as in to commit a crime.
Using the motor vehicle analogy, Biden would hold Ford liable if some idiot used his F-150 to mow down a bunch of pedestrians on the sidewalk.
In short, whether it’s a gun, a pickup truck, or any other instrument, it’s the person who commits the crime and causes the injury, not the tool they use to do it.
Biden made another claim that he often makes when he talks about gun control — that a private citizen couldn’t legally possess a cannon in 1791 when the Bill of Rights was ratified.
“We talk like there’s no amendment that’s absolute,” he began. “When the amendment was passed, it didn’t say anybody can own a gun and any kind of gun and any kind of weapon. You couldn’t buy a cannon in — when the — this — this amendment was passed.”
When he made the exact same claim in June, The Washington Post decided to fact check the president, and consulted David Kopel, research director and Second Amendment project director at the Independence Institute.
"Everything in that statement is wrong," Kopel told the Post, adding, "there were no federal laws about the type of gun you could own, and no states limited the kind of gun you could own” — and that included cannons.
The Post awarded Biden four “Pinocchios” for that claim — the paper’s highest rating on its Lie-O-Meter.
And what’s more, firearm safety instructor and ReLoad founder Stephen Gutowski reported that civilians can still purchase cannons if they’re willing to jump through all the regulatory hoops.
“Oh, also, you can still legally own a canon today,” he said. “They're regulated as destructive devices under the National Firearms Act of 1934, but they're still legal for civilians to own.”
Biden also brought up the usual suspects — “assault” weapons, “high-capacity” magazines, “weapons of war,” and imaginary gun purchase loopholes.
How refreshing it would have been had he addressed the real cause for the crime spike, including:
- •Public officials who divert funds from law enforcement to other programs (former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio diverted $1 billion from the NYPD budget)
- •District attorneys who refuse to prosecute various classes of crimes such as shoplifting and petty thefts
- •Judges who release defendants on little or no bail, giving them the ability to go out and offend again
- •The president could try protecting the southern border, instead of permitting some 2 million people to illegally cross — many of them felons
- •The public can stop assuming the police are always the “bad guys,” especially after shootings.
These are just a few suggestions — the list goes on.
Finally, if Biden really wanted to make a statement in New York City, he should have arrived a day earlier and quietly and respectfully attended the funeral of Officer Wilbert Mora at St. Patrick's Cathedral.
When Joseph R. Biden placed his left palm on the Bible, raised his right hand, and swore an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States," that meant the whole Constitution — not just the parts he likes.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to BizPac Review and Liberty Unyielding. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter who can often be found honing his skills at the range. Read Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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