Biden says a ghost gun is like a couch
Biden says a ghost gun is like a couch
New gun control regs and ATF nominee will not reduce violent crime in America
Joe Biden said that ghost guns— which are homemade guns — are just like couches that need to be assembled. I had to rewind my DVR twice and check the transcript to be sure I heard him right. A couch?
The Rose Garden event on Monday was supposed to show he’s tough on crime, but it exposed how little Joe knows about firearms and real life.
CATCH UP: I wrote on Friday to my paid subscribers that I expected Biden to give the final Justice Depatment rules for so-called ghost guns and nominate gun-control advocate Steve Dettelbach for ATF director. More about his nomination is below.
Ghost guns are not like couches
Watch what Biden said in this video below that I recorded live off my TV because it was so ridiculous:
Biden gave the couch analogy right before his show-and-tell at the White House with the parts to assemble homemade guns.
“You know, if you buy a couch you have to assemble, it’s still a couch. If you order a package, like this one over here, that includes the parts you need, the directions for assembling a functioning firearm, you bought a gun. “
I doubt Biden has ever bought a couch that needs assembly, and I’m sure he’s never tried to put together the parts he picked up from this table- below- but it’s just not the same thing at all. But Joe claimed both were super easy.
“It’s not hard to put together. A little drill — hand drill at home. It doesn’t take very long. Anyone can order it in the mail. Anyone," claimed Biden. “And, folks, a felon, a terrorist, a domestic abuser can go from a gun kit to a gun in as little as 30 minutes.”
Biden and his gun control buddies always throw “terrorists” into the debate to scare people. I think that if another Mohammed Atta was trying to do a 9/11 today, he would stick with the effective knives that have no gunpowder for dogs to find.
Vice President Kamala Harris said that ghost guns “can be bought without a background check by people who otherwise would be legally prohibited from gun ownership -- domestic abusers, gun traffickers, individuals convicted of violent crimes, and even young children.”
Young children are buying gun kits? Perhaps they are making those online buys while their parents are assembling couches.
The ghost gun crime problem
Biden said the reasons for his new regulations are:
Buyers aren’t required to pass background checks.
Because guns have no serial numbers — these guns — when they show up at a crime scene, they can’t be traced. Harder to find and prove who used them. Meaning you can’t connect the gun to the shooter and hold them accountable.
The president’s final rule for the Justice Department and ATF will be enacted within 120 days. I uploaded it at the bottom to read in detail.
In short, it says that the polymer kits will now be considered “firearms” and so the manufacturers must put serial numbers on the frame or receiver. Also, only federally licensed gun dealers can sell the kits, and they must run a background check for sale.
Biden said, “If you commit a crime with a ghost gun, expect federal prosecution, not just state. Expect federal prosecution.” But keep in mind, he’s referring to manufacturers and dealers, not the criminals we’re trying to get off the streets.
Note that the new criminals in the Biden plan will be manufacturers and dealers, not the ones arrested for possessing the gun. So the president’s gambit here is that criminals will agree to do an FBI background check to buy gun parts with serial numbers. Has he thought this through?
Anway, serial numbers are not a common way for law enforcement to solve crimes because criminals use stolen guns.
A police officer in a major metro area who writes for this newsletter under the alias Sgt. Roger Murtaugh said this crime-solving plan is a “completely ignorant waste of time.”
“The politicians push the narrative of being able to trace the serial numbers — as if many of the firearms are being purchased by straw purchasers for the actual criminal,” said Sgt. Murtaugh.
“The criminal actually carrying the firearm isn't being prosecuted, so for anyone to believe the work will be done to find someone that sold a weapon without going through a FFL, and then follow through with the prosecution of that person, is dreaming,” said Murtaugh. “That only happens in extreme high profile cases.”
Ghost guns in cities
Now, Biden is right that ghost guns are a problem for police in big cities.
Murtaugh tracks the guns that come into his department from arrests. He told me that so-called ghost guns accounted for approximately 20% of firearms recovered in his large metropolis department in 2021. He also said that the other 80% recovered have serial numbers.
But he tells me that the laws won’t change things for policing. He said in his department, “everyone arrested for carrying a gun last year was doing so in violation of the law already.” He said about half were under age and half were in possession of a controlled dangerous substance at the same time.
“The point is, as we know, criminals don't care about laws,” said Sgt. Murtaugh.
Retired LAPD homicide detective Sal LaBarbara, who is a paying subscriber to this newsletter, tweeted:
Hunting in creeks and other tall tales
Biden loves to remind us that he authored the first and only federal bans on “high capacity” magazines and “assault weapons.” This 1994 law expired 10 years later because it didn’t do anything for gun crime. But Biden wants it back.
During his entire gun-grabbing career, Biden has been repeating the same anecdotes but none seem true. Today’s version was this:
I was down in southern Delaware — they do a lot of hunting and fishing down there — and I was walking up one of the creek beds.
And a guy standing said, “You want to take my gun?”
I said, “I don’t want to take your gun.”
He said, “Well, you’re telling me I can’t have more than X number of bullets in a — in a — in my gun.”
And I said, “What — do you think the deer you’re hunting wear Kevlar vests? What the hell you need 20 bullets for? You must be a hell of a terrible shot.”
How did Biden end up in a creek bed? Does he have a hunter’s license? I’ve asked the White House press office and media relations for the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife about it. I’ll update if they reply.
ATF director
Biden failed badly when he nominated an actual gun-control lobbyist to be ATF director last year. Catch up on my drumbeat against David Chipman and his alleged missing ATF personnel files and when he was yanked from nomination here.
Go back to my last story for a brief recap of Biden’s second nominee for ATF director, Steve Dettelbach. Biden brought him to the Rose Garden Monday and said this:
Steve is immensely qualified. He served the Department of Justice for two decades. He worked side by side to support the work of federal, state, and local law enforcement, including
AFT[ATF] agents.
The AFT scratched off above is not from me. That is from the official White House transcript. The president actually said A-F-T instead of A-T-F four times.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) which is a trade organization for the firearms industry, said in a statement on Monday.
NSSF has significant concerns regarding Dettelbach’s previous public statements supporting bans on Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs), or AR-15 semiautomatic rifles, universal background checks, which are unworkable without a national firearm registry that is already forbidden by federal law, and extreme-risk protection orders, or so-called “red flag” laws, without protections for Due Process considerations.
Dettelbach was also previously endorsed by the gun control group, Everytown for Gun Safety, for his support for policies restricting Second Amendment rights.
But don’t write off Dettelbach now. He’s got Republican support on the Hill…