Shining Truth on Lies

President Biden last week unveiled a number of executive orders he says will begin his effort to institute “common sense” gun regulations. In reality, his orders will do nothing to stop criminals from getting guns, and are just a first step in disarming law-abiding American citizens.

Mr. Biden echoed a mantra ceaselessly bloviated by leftists that he will “close the gun show loophole.” Fact check: there is no such thing as a gun show loophole. Every gun show I’ve been to, and there have been many, featured gun retailers who possessed Federal Firearm Licenses (FFL) to sell firearms, and required every person who purchased a gun from them to fill out the required paperwork that’s part of the federal background check process.

What Mr. Biden really wants is to stop all gun sales and transfers outside federal control. The problem is that doing so would stop giving guns as gifts or to family members as part of an inheritance. It might even become illegal to loan a gun without a background check, which would negatively impact youth shooting programs and firearm safety instruction.

Mr. Biden also lied when he called the U.S. an “international embarrassment” due to the amount of gun crime in our nation. Fact check: of the top 25 deadliest mass shootings in the world reported between 1970 and 2018, only TWO took place in the U.S. – the Las Vegas shooting in 1917 and Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016. Where were most of the top 25? In Africa. But our media rarely reports on mass shootings outside of the U.S. or Europe. In fact, for a nation with as many guns as the U.S. has per-capita, we’re safer than many counties with much stricter gun control laws.

Mr. Biden called shootings an epidemic and said, “Every day in this country, 360 people are shot. Every single day, 106 of them die.” True. If you count ALL firearm deaths. But according to the FBI, more than two-thirds of those firearm-related deaths are suicides and accidents. And when it comes to “assault rifles” the FBI reports an average of 1.1 deaths per day in the U.S. from ANY kind of rifle.

Mr. Biden said in reference to the 2nd Amendment, ““No amendment to the Constitution is absolute.” How alarming and sad. We can only conclude he then envisions situations in which slavery is legal (13th Amendment), women should not be allowed to vote (19th Amendment), Mr. Biden has demonstrated to be as knowledgeable about guns as he is an eloquent orator. And a man who plays loose with truth and is on record as recommending a double-barrel shotgun for personal protection, as well as firing said gun through a door or into the air off a balcony to chase a bad guy off the front porch, should be better informed lest he be called “a lying dog-faced pony soldier.”

Note: Last week’s column on Mr. Biden’s plan to have 30 percent of U.S. land under federal control by 2030 was noticed by a Cheyenne County Commissioner and will be on the Commission’s agenda at its Monday, April 19 meeting. Those concerned about the plan are encouraged to attend.