The One Thing Joe Biden Isn't Lying About

We all know the old joke: “How can you tell if a politician is lying? His lips are moving.”

Everyone knows that politicians generally lie. They say what it takes to get them elected, maybe do enough leg work to justify themselves to their constituents, and little else. Still, we’ve seen some real doozies over the years. “Read my lips: No new taxes,” and “I did not have sexual relations with that woman,” and things of that sort.

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With Joe Biden, though, we know one thing we should absolutely take his word on, though.

Former Vice President Joe Biden declared election victory, even as President Donald Trump continues to challenge results in several states. Runoffs are slated for both U.S. Senate seats from Georgia, which could decide the balance of power in Washington, D.C. and whether agendas get an unquestioned green light or hit roadblocks.

The Biden camp is already forming the presidential transition team and increased gun control is on the table. While everyone is trying to read the political tea leaves to predict what will happen, the firearm industry is taking a pragmatic approach.

When it comes to gun control, take Biden at his word.

He’s given plenty of public comment to know exactly what he wants to do if he’s unchecked. It’s nothing short of ending Second Amendment rights and reducing them to a nanny-state privilege that’s closely monitored and meted out piecemeal to a select few. It also means the firearm industry would be decimated through harassing litigation, overburdening regulation and a bevy of laws that won’t improve public safety but would render law-abiding Americans vulnerable to criminals.

‘The Enemy’

Biden made it crystal clear his thoughts on firearm manufacturers at the onset of the Democratic presidential primary race in July 2019.

“Our enemy is the gun manufacturers, not the NRA, the gun manufacturers,” Biden said.

Biden’s gun control plan would criminalize private firearm sales, requiring every firearm transfer to be conducted through licensed firearm retailers. He’d also crack down on those retailers, using the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) as an anvil by which to crush businesses for even minor clerical errors in inspections. He argued for the same failed so-called mandatory “smart gun” technology for which he led a task force in the Obama administration. It wasn’t ready for testing then and it’s still not ready today.

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I advise you to go read all of Larry Keane’s column because he’s right. When it comes to political promises, take Joe Biden at his word.

However, I also don’t believe it’s all doom and gloom. You see, we know what Biden wants to do, but some of that may be a far cry from what he’s able to do.

While we know there are administrative measures Biden can take, much of his anti-gun agenda, but the lion’s share of what he wants to do will require Congress, and I don’t think he has a hope in hell of making that happen.

Democrats control the House, but barely. Some of those Democrats, though, are in vulnerable districts and aren’t willing to risk their careers by backing gun control measures that won’t be popular back home. They’ll dig in and oppose the measures.

Yet even if they do get through the House, they hit a Senate that will be, at worst, a 50-50 split, and that’s assuming both Georgia senators lose their races. That’s something I wouldn’t hold my breath on. Not with the stakes so high in a state that’s traditionally been rather red. But, for the sake of argument, let’s assume they do.

That means they’ll go to a divided Senate where Republicans can filibuster anything that comes through. Gun control will stall out in the Senate before it goes anywhere else.

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Hopefully.

So, while Biden can do a lot of damage to our gun rights, he can’t do as much as he’d like to do.

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