Joe Biden’s So-Called “Gun Safety” Plan Explained
For the last four years we have had a Republican President in the White House. As in decades past, Republicans muddled with the NICS system and failed to defend bump stocks. But had Hillary Clinton won, gun owners would have suffered many more losses than this.
However, Gun Owners of America was able to achieve many policy goals under the Trump Administration.
We detailed that in an article titled: Ten Wins for Gun Owners Under the Trump Administration. But our victories will not survive a Biden-Harris Administration.
Imagine the destruction that will be caused by an Administration that refuses to acknowledge that the Second Amendment protects an individual right. Or a President who believes that’s it’s okay to confiscate millions of commonly-owned firearms.
That’s what we are facing if Joe Biden wins the 2020 Presidential Election.
The following contains quotations directly from the Joe Biden gun control proposal. I will contextualize each proposed infringement.
You can go here to view this alert on the web.
Semi-automatic Gun and Magazine Bans and Confiscation
Federal Gun Bans and Magazine Bans to be enforced by Robert Francis Take Your AR-15 O’Rourke:
Ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Federal law prevents hunters from hunting migratory game birds with more than three shells in their shotgun. That means our federal law does more to protect ducks than children. It’s wrong. Joe Biden will enact legislation to once again ban assault weapons. This time, the bans will be designed based on lessons learned from the 1994 bans. For example, the ban on assault weapons will be designed to prevent manufacturers from circumventing the law by making minor changes that don’t limit the weapon’s lethality. While working to pass this legislation, Biden will also use his executive authority to ban the importation of assault weapons.
Mandatory gun and magazine registration, if you can afford it as each firearm or magazine will require a separate $200 NFA tax stamp:
Regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act. Currently, the National Firearms Act requires individuals possessing machine-guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles to undergo a background check and register those weapons with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Due to these requirements, such weapons are rarely used in crimes. As president, Biden will pursue legislation to regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act.
Mandatory gun confiscation:
Buy back the assault weapons and high-capacity magazines already in our communities. Biden will also institute a program to buy back weapons of war currently on our streets. This will give individuals who now possess assault weapons or high-capacity magazines two options: sell the weapons to the government, or register them under the National Firearms Act.
Prepare to ban the manufacture of all guns except so-called "smart guns:"
Put America on the path to ensuring that 100% of firearms sold in America are smart guns. Today, we have the technology to allow only authorized users to fire a gun. For example, existing smart gun technology requires a fingerprint match before use. Biden believes we should work to eventually require that 100% of firearms sold in the U.S. are smart guns. But, right now the NRA and gun manufacturers are bullying firearms dealers who try to sell these guns. Biden will stand up against these bullying tactics and issue a call to action for gun manufacturers, dealers, and other public and private entities to take steps to accelerate our transition to smart guns.
Strip the firearm and ammunition industry of civil liability protections and hold manufacturers, engaged in lawful commerce, liable for criminals engaging in criminal activity:
Hold gun manufacturers accountable. In 2005, then-Senator Biden voted against the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, but gun manufacturers successfully lobbied Congress to secure its passage. This law protects these manufacturers from being held civilly liable for their products – a protection granted to no other industry. Biden will prioritize repealing this protection.
Ban the purchase of more than one firearm per month at the federal level:
Reduce stockpiling of weapons. In order to reduce the stockpiling of firearms, Biden supports legislation restricting the number of firearms an individual may purchase per month to one.
Universal Background [Registration] Checks
Bribe states to create licenses to purchase firearms using federal tax dollars:
Give states incentives to set up gun licensing programs. Biden will enact legislation to give states and local governments grants to require individuals to obtain a license prior to purchasing a gun.
References about UBCs that are reminiscent of the leaked Obama-Biden Administration’s NIJ memo that said “Effectiveness depends on the ability to reduce straw purchasing, requiring gun registration” (emphasis added):
Keep guns out of dangerous hands. The federal background check system (the National Instant Criminal Background Check System) is one of the best tools we have to prevent gun violence, but it’s only effective when it’s used. Biden will enact universal background check legislation and close other loopholes that allow people who should be prohibited from purchasing firearms from making those purchases. Specifically, he will:
End the private sale of firearms, except for gifts to immediate family… for now:
Require background checks for all gun sales. Today, an estimated 1 in 5 firearms are sold or transferred without a background check. Biden will enact universal background check legislation, requiring a background check for all gun sales with very limited exceptions, such as gifts between close family members. This will close the so-called “gun show and online sales loophole” that the Obama-Biden Administration narrowed, but which cannot be fully closed by executive action alone.
Banning the sale of guns, ammo, and gun parts online:
End the online sale of firearms and ammunitions [sic]. Biden will enact legislation to prohibit all online sales of firearms, ammunition, kits, and gun parts.
Enact a Homemade Gun Ban:
Stop “ghost guns.” One way people who cannot legally obtain a gun may gain access to a weapon is by assembling a one [sic] on their own, either by buying a kit of disassembled gun parts or 3D printing a working firearm. Biden will stop the proliferation of these so-called “ghost guns” by passing legislation requiring that purchasers of gun kits or 3D printing code pass a federal background check.
Even more funding for the Universal Background Check System:
Adequately fund the background check system. President Obama and Vice President Biden expanded incentives for states to submit records of prohibited persons into the background checks system. As president, Biden will continue to prioritize that funding and ensure that the FBI is adequately funded to accurately and efficiently handle the NICS system.
Regulate what gun owners can and cannot do with their property in the privacy of their own homes:
Require gun owners to safely store their weapons. Biden will pass legislation requiring firearm owners to store weapons safely in their homes.
Prosecute gun owners for the new “crime” of teaching a minor how to safely handle a firearm or how to shoot or hunt with a firearm:
Hold adults accountable for giving minors access to firearms. Biden supports legislation holding adults criminally and civilly liable for directly or negligently giving a minor access to a firearm, regardless of whether the minor actually gains possession of the firearm.
More funding to prosecute NICS denials:
Prioritize prosecution of straw purchasers. “Straw purchasers” buy a firearm on behalf of an individual who cannot pass a background check. Biden will end those loopholes by enacting a law to make all straw purchases a serious federal crime and ensure the U.S. Justice Department has sufficient resources to prioritize their prosecution.
Funding to send police after NICS denials, again, 95% of which are law abiding citizens who received “false positive” denials from the FBI:
Notify law enforcement when a potential firearms purchaser fails a background check. Too often, when prohibited persons attempting to buy a firearm fail a background check, state and local law enforcement is never informed of the attempt. As president, Biden will direct the FBI to set up a process to ensure timely notification of denials to state and local law enforcement, and he’ll support legislation to codify this process. This empowers law enforcement to follow up and ensure prohibited persons do not attempt to acquire firearms through other means.
Prosecute gun owners when a criminal steals their firearm or when they “lose” a firearm for failure to file a police report:
Require firearms owners to report if their weapon is lost or stolen. Responsible gun owners have a responsibility to inform law enforcement if their weapon is lost or stolen. Biden will enact legislation to make this the law of the land.
New “Boyfriend Loophole” Gun Ban, which includes special federal Gun Confiscation Orders for those convicted of “stalking” because they threatened a pet:
Close other loopholes in the federal background check system. In addition to closing the “boyfriend loophole” highlighted below […]
New “Hate Crime Loophole” Gun Ban, which includes a gun ban for referring to someone as an “illegal alien” in New York City:
Close the “hate crime loophole.” Biden will enact legislation prohibiting an individual “who has been convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime, or received an enhanced sentence for a misdemeanor because of hate or bias in its commission,” from purchasing or possessing a firearm.
Eliminate a three-business day deadline for the FBI to complete a NICS check, creating a potential 10 day waiting period for firearm purchases:
Close the “Charleston loophole.” The Charleston loophole allows people to complete a firearms purchase if their background check is not completed within three business days. Biden supports the proposal in the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019, which extends the timeline from three to 10 business days. Biden will also direct the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to put on his desk within his first 100 days as president a report detailing the cases in which background checks are not completed within 10 business days and steps the federal government can take to reduce or eliminate this occurrence.
Further Gun Confiscation Legislation at the Federal, State, and Local Levels
Increase prosecution of NICS denials, 95% of which are law-abiding citizens who received “false positive” denials from the FBI:
Create an effective program to ensure individuals who become prohibited from possessing firearms relinquish their weapons. Federal law defines categories of individuals who are prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms, and the federal background check system is an effective tool for ensuring prohibited persons cannot purchase firearms. But we lack any serious tool to ensure that when someone becomes newly prohibited – for example, because they commit a violent crime – they relinquish possession of their firearms. There are some promising models for how this could be enforced. For example, California has a mandatory process for ensuring relinquishment by any individual newly subject to a domestic violence restraining order. As president, Biden will direct the FBI and ATF to outline a model relinquishment process, enact any necessary legislation to ensure relinquishment when individuals newly fall under one of the federal prohibitions, and then provide technical and financial assistance to state and local governments to establish effective relinquishment processes on their own.
Bribe states to enact ex parte Gun Confiscation Orders with no due process using federal tax dollars:
Incentivize state “extreme risk” laws. Extreme risk laws, also called “red flag” laws, enable family members or law enforcement officials to temporarily remove an individual’s access to firearms when that individual is in crisis and poses a danger to themselves or others. Biden will incentivize the adoption of these laws by giving states funds to implement them. And, he’ll direct the U.S. Department of Justice to issue best practices and offer technical assistance to states interested in enacting an extreme risk law.
Executive Action
Reinstate the Social Security Gun Ban:
Reinstate the Obama-Biden policy to keep guns out of the hands of certain people unable to manage their affairs for mental reasons, which President Trump reversed. In 2016, the Obama-Biden Administration finalized a rule to make sure the Social Security Administration (SSA) sends to the background check system records that it holds of individuals who are prohibited from purchasing or possessing firearms because they have been adjudicated by the SSA as unable to manage their affairs for mental reasons. But one of the first actions Donald Trump took as president was to reverse this rule. President Biden will enact legislation to codify this policy.
Perpetuate an ineffective and unconstitutional ban on sharing 3D printed gun files online:
Biden will ensure that the authority for firearms exports stays with the State Department, and if needed, reverse a proposed rule by President Trump. This will ensure the State Department continues to block the code used to 3D print firearms from being made available on the Internet.
“Enforcing the laws we already have” against law-abiding gun owners, such as executive action to continue banning pistol-braced firearms and re-designating them as Short Barreled Rifles or Any Other Weapons:
Reform, fund, and empower the U.S. Justice Department to enforce our gun laws. Biden will direct his Attorney General to deliver to him within his first 100 days a set of recommendations for restructuring the ATF and related Justice Department agencies to most effectively enforce our gun laws. Biden will then work to secure sufficient funds for the Justice Department to effectively enforce our existing gun laws, increase the frequency of inspections of firearms dealers, and repeal riders that get in the way of that work.
Each President sets the tone for their Presidency by achieving as many policy goals as they can in their first 100 days in office. For gun owners, this is bad news. Using the laws that we already have, a Biden-Harris Administration can wreak havoc on gun owners without any new acts of Congress. Still, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris promise much worse for gun owners.
From gun and magazine bans, licenses to purchase firearms, universal registration checks, and gun confiscation without due process, a Biden-Harris Administration promises four years of unrelenting efforts to infringe on the rights of gun owners.
Keep in mind, this list is far from exhaustive of what Joe Biden has promised or what he will do.
Of course, Gun Owners of America will defend your right to keep and bear arms through our lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. and our legal efforts in the courts regardless of who wins the 2020 Presidential and Congressional elections.
However, it is every American’s duty to support the Constitution and our Second Amendment-recognized rights at the polls in every election.
So, get out there and defend your Second Amendment-protected rights!
Even if you have voted, please share this voter guide with your pro-gun friends and family before they get to the voting booth.
Remember: Every … Vote … Counts.
In liberty,
Aidan Johnston
Director of Federal Affairs
Follow me on Twitter at: @RealGunLobbyist
P.S. Don’t forget to check out the GOA Congressional Voter Guide before you head to the polls on November 3rd! And please consider chipping in $20, $50, or $100 so GOA can keep up the pressure in important races across the country.
P.P.S. Please go here to view this alert on the web.
Paid for by Gun Owners of America. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
