Joe Biden Pledges Gun Controls That Already Failed

Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden cited the August 3, 2019, El Paso Walmart shooting and pushed for background checks on Tuesday, although the Walmart shooter reportedly passed a background check for his rifle.

Biden made this push in a Tuesday tweet, where he wrote, “One year ago, just hours after the massacre in El Paso, nine precious lives were cut short in Dayton. In the wake of the tragedies, Donald Trump promised the most modest of gun safety policies, then caved to the NRA and failed to deliver.”

He added, “As president, I’ll take on the powerful gun lobby to pass universal background checks, ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and close loopholes to keep guns out of dangerous hands. We can and will end our gun violence epidemic.”

The El Paso Walmart attacker used an AK-47 variant in his attack. The Texas Tribune reported that the Romanian-made gun was sent to a gun retailer in Allen, Texas, where the attacker faced requirements of passing a background check before taking possession of the gun.

El Paso police made clear the attacker’s gun was “bought legally.”

Yet Biden is pushing background checks.

Moreover, Biden is also pushing a ban on “assault weapons” and “high-capacity magazines.” The Chicago-area has an “assault weapons” ban via a Cook County ordinance, and that ban includes a prohibition against “high-capacity” magazines. These bans notwithstanding, Chicago witnessed a 139 percent surge in murder in July 2020, when compared to July 2019.

Chicago also has de facto universal background checks, via the state of Illinois’ Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card requirement, which mandates that would-be gun owners acquire a FOID card before being allowed to buy a gun. The process for getting a FOID card includes a background check.

Yet Biden is pushing an “assault weapons” ban, a ban on “high-capacity” magazines, and more background checks.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.