The Little Biden Who Cried Assault Weapon Ban

Jacquelyn Martin, Pool

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden gave his State of the Union speech. It’s that annual event that some think is a good thing based on tradition while still others (read: me) are of the belief that it’s the ultimate “this could have been an email” thing.

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Either way, the president gave his points, arguing in favor of numerous positions, as previous presidents have done. One of those points was a call for a federal assault weapon ban.

However, you may not have heard much about it. It didn’t make a lot of headlines and while we and other gun rights sites mentioned it, there’s been no wall-to-wall coverage of the proposal. There’s been no renewed debate on the topic.

Why?

The short answer is that President Biden has called for an assault weapon ban on so many occasions that he’s basically sucked all the news value out of such calls.

In the wake of any mass shooting, Biden mentions a new assault weapon ban, much like the one he championed in 1994. Yet he often does this before anything is known about the shooting. As many other gun control supporters do, he frames it as necessary to address such horrific tragedies, only to be undermined by the bluntness of reality.

After the shooting at the University of Virginia, Biden called for an assault weapon ban, only for us to learn that the shooting was carried out with a handgun. In Raleigh, North Carolina, again he called for such a ban, only for us to learn the killer had a handgun and a shotgun.

Time and time again, President Biden has called for an assault weapon ban, even when the facts on the ground didn’t warrant such a call if they ever do.

So, for the first time in living memory, a sitting president called for gun control during the State of the Union and absolutely no one cares.

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Why would they?

“President Biden called for an assault weapon ban. Must be Tuesday again.” It’s really that routine, and the Biden administration has no one to blame but themselves.

Had the president waited until he had some facts before making his call previously, Tuesday’s declaration might have held some weight. Instead, it was Grandpa Simpson once again yelling at clouds.

Couple that with the fact that everyone knows there’s no chance of an assault weapon ban passing either the House or the Senate–while Democrats still have control, they don’t have a filibuster-proof majority–and there’s even less reason to get excited.

President Biden may honestly believe a new assault weapon ban is good policy. However, there’s a reason his latest call was less interesting for news consumers than his ordering a latte. That reason is that it’s not news when it happens virtually every week.

The little Biden cried assault weapon ban so many times that now no one is interested in heeding his cries. Not even the media that tends to agree on such matters is that interested, and that should tell you all you need to know.

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