Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden responded to the weekend shootings by calling for gun controls that already failed to stop the Dayton, Ohio, attack.
Biden tweeted that “[Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)] should reconvene the Senate and pass the House’s universal background checks bill.” He added, “We cannot wait to take action.”
The problem Biden’s recommendation is that the Dayton, Ohio, gunman acquired his firearm “legally.” He ordered it online and it was shipped to a gun store near him, where federal law mandates that he pass a background check before taking possession of the gun. Background checks for retail gun sales in the U.S. have required a background check since 1998.
Universal background checks simply mandate that private gun buyers undergo a background check as well, but that is a scenario that does not even apply in Dayton, as the shooter got his via a background check at retail.
Biden used another tweet to lump in Chicago gun violence with El Paso and Dayton, saying, “We cannot go on like this. We must muster up the courage to take on the NRA and pass common-sense reform, and end our gun violence epidemic.”
Biden did not mention that Chicago, like all of Illinois, has a gun owners licensing requirement via Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) cards. They have a 72-hour waiting period on gun purchases and a minimum purchase age of 21 for long guns and shorts guns. Additionally, Cook County regulations put artificial limits on the number of gun stores in Chicago, placing limitations on where guns can be legally acquired. Yet Chicago witnessed 53 shot, seven fatally, over the weekend.
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 directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.