By the Numbers… Why President Biden’s Call to Ban Guns Is Wrong

By Larry Keane

President Joe Biden is, again, telling his donor class that he’s committed to violating his oath of office and will continue to seek to ban AR-15s – or Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs). It’s not the first time, but he continues to show his ignorance of firearms in general and contempt for the rights protected by the U.S. Constitution, which he swore to uphold and defend.

President Biden spoke to the Human Rights Campaign National Dinner and said, “Who in God’s name needs a weapon with 100 rounds in the chamber? That weapon’s only meant for one thing… to kill people.”

He added that he was in the U.S. Senate when the federal government banned the sale of MSRs from 1994-2004, a law that was signed by President Bill Clinton and expired under President George W. Bush. He said if he gets his way, he’d do it all over again.

“As long as I’m in office I’m not going to stop until we get it done again,” President Biden said.

From his remarks, it seems he mistakenly believes there are “weapons with 100 rounds in the chamber.” The shockingly uninformed statement wasn’t the most ignorant statement of the day. President Biden transitioned to speak of the horrors Israelis suffered during the Hamas terrorist attack, failing to connect the fact that Israeli citizens live under the type of gun control that President Biden wants for America – one that left them unable to defend themselves from terror attacks.

“Weapons with 100 rounds in the chamber” don’t exist, but here are the numbers that matter.

1,400. 

That’s the low-end estimate of the number of Israelis killed when Hamas launched surprise attacks from the air, sea and breaking through the security fences that separate Gaza and Israel. Most of those killed were civilians who were brutally murdered in the most barbaric ways. Concert-goers were mowed down by the hundreds at a desert music festival. Entire families were slaughtered in their homes. Bodies of parents and children were found bound and bearing the marks of torture as they were killed in front of one another. Infants were reported decapitated. The brutality of the attacks bore resemblance to those of ISIS and some reports noted that ISIS flags were recovered at the scene of the unprovoked attacks.

Hamas’ brutal attacks have no excuse nor equivocation. However, President Biden didn’t acknowledge that there is no right to keep and bear arms in Israel. That right is uniquely American and had that right to arms existed and provided for a means of self-defense, that figure would be much lower.

30. 

That’s the number of Americans who perished in Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel. Hamas doesn’t just bear hatred for their neighboring state of Israel and the Jewish people. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken addressed the world alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said of the murderous attacks, “No country can or would tolerate the slaughter of its citizens – or simply return to the conditions that allowed it to take place. Israel has the right – indeed, the obligation – to defend itself and to ensure that this never happens again.”

That commitment to preserving the lives for citizens applies to Americans too. Ensuring Americans at home aren’t left defenseless by respecting the right to keep and bear arms is paramount to that security.

199. 

That’s the number of hostages Hamas took when they launched their attacks against Israel. These are women and children. They are the elderly. Some families are sharing their grief, frustrations and fear. Hamas is releasing hostage videos, driving further anxiety for the hostages’ safety. Hamas is attempting to use those hostages as bargaining chips is cruel and twisted game of brinksmanship. That includes hostages of other nationalities, including citizens of Thailand, Germany and other countries that have reported citizens as missing. Israelis with dual U.S. citizenship are among those hostages. Hamas bizarrely refers to them as “guests,” much like Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein did to those he held before the Iraq War was launched.

216. 

This is a number that hits closer to home because it is the number of illegal border crossers, and a U.S. citizen, caught at the U.S. southern border whose identities matched those listed on the Terrorist Screening Dataset and apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) as of July 2023. There were 100 apprehended in CY 22. The number found to be on the Terror Watchlist is growing. Here’s another series of numbers. Four Iranians have been arrested at the southern border since Oct. 1. In the first two weeks of October, the CBP told Fox News that agents have apprehended more than 30 Iranians, nearly 60 Syrians, 35 Pakistanis, more than 100 Russians, 285 Afghans and nearly 2,000 Chinese migrants at the southern border.

24.4 million. 

That’s the number of MSRs – AR-15 style rifles and AK-style rifles – that have been produced in the United States since 1990. That number doesn’t include rifles made for the military. More recent updates are expected soon, but this figure shows the MSR remains the most-popular selling centerfire semiautomatic rifle in the United States today. There are more MSRs in circulation today than there are Ford F-150s trucks on the road. By any figure, that’s a firearm that’s commonly-owned and commonly-used. They are “arms” protected by the Second Amendment because they are chosen by the People.

Nine. 

That’s the next figure President Biden chooses to ignore. That’s the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court – the same number that weighed in on the landmark Heller, McDonald and now Bruen decisions. Those decisions are crucial for the firearm industry and gun owners because Heller held that the Second Amendment is a right of individual Americans to keep and bear arms, just like the First and Fourth Amendment. It disposed of the notion that the Second Amendment was a collective right of the government to raise militias. McDonald held that state and local governments couldn’t ignore Second Amendment rights because of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. Bruen held that states couldn’t deprive law abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights by attempting to employ an “interest-balancing test.” That was previously rejected in the Heller decision but specifically rejected by Justice Clarence Thomas who wrote in the majority opinion that the text, history and tradition was how courts must interpret the Second Amendment.

Two. 

That’s the final number. The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reads, “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” That’s a right endowed upon Americans by their Creator, not granted and plucked away by the whims of a government. When President Biden swore his oath of office, that meant he swore to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s the whole Constitution, not just the parts he likes. At a time when America is reminded that wolves prowl at the gates and life and liberty must be defended against terrorists, President Biden should not be calling for disarming Americans.

Larry Keane is Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs and General Counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association.

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