By: Teresa Mull

Joe Biden is making good on his promise to push for even more Second Amendment-crushing gun control with his nominees for Attorney General and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary.

Xavier Becerra, HHS nominee, will be “pushing firearm ownership as a public health crisis,” the National Shooting Sports Foundation said in a press release.

Becerra served 12 terms in Congress and was California’s attorney general. He “has been involved in several California gun control lawsuits, including two that could have national repercussions,” Fox News reports.

Then there’s Merrick Garland, Biden’s AG nominee, who said this week during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing:

“As I’m sure you know, the president is a strong supporter of gun control and has been an advocate all of his life, professional life, on this question. The role of the Justice Department is to advance the policy program of the administration as long as it is consistent with the law.

“And as I said, so far we have a little indication from the Supreme Court as to what this means. But we don’t have a complete indication. And where there is room under the law for the president’s policies to be pursued, then I think the president is entitled to pursue them.”

The National Association for Gun Rights warned supporters this week:

Remember in 2008, when then Judge Garland sided against gun owners in the landmark D.C. v Heller case?

This case aimed to establish that the Second Amendment is your individual right to bear arms, but Gun Grabber Garland sided against that decision.

Now, he is being tapped to lead the whole Department of Justice — which oversees the ATF — and he doesn’t believe that you have a constitutional right to bear arms.

Let that sink in.

That means MORE raids on gun shops and manufacturers, MORE arbitrary bans of firearms and components, and MORE prosecutions of law-abiding gun owners.

This is why NAGR fought so hard to defeat Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination in 2016, and we are going to need your help to defeat his nomination to the U.S. Attorney General’s office.

So far, Biden hasn’t used executive action to implement gun control, however, gun rights advocates are prepared to take the administration to court to thwart any overreach.

Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, told Fox News he expects Biden to try to control guns through the ATF by regulating the importation of guns and ammo.

Earlier this week, Biden called on Congress to ban so-called “assault weapons,” declaring:

Today, I am calling on Congress to enact commonsense gun law reforms, including requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets. We owe it to all those we’ve lost and to all those left behind to grieve to make a change. The time to act is now.

Biden, we remember, made increasing gun control a focal point of his election campaign, releasing an 11-page plan to dismantle the Second Amendment. Some of his priorities include:

– “Pursuing legislation to regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act.” Those who now own “assault weapons” – whatever that means, either under newly passed legislation or executive fiat – will have to either sell them back to the government or register them with the ATF under the National Firearms Act.

– A $200 tax on every AR-15 Americans have already purchased

– Families of shooting victims will be able to file civil suits against gun manufacturers to obtain damages related to the misuse of their products in crimes

– Preventing Americans from owning firearms on the basis of “mental health” reasons – could mean anything from depression to anxiety.

– “…Enacting legislation to prohibit all online sales of firearms, ammunition, kits, and gun parts.”

– “…Directing the FBI and ATF to outline a model relinquishment process, enact any necessary legislation to ensure relinquishment when individuals newly fall under one of the federal prohibitions, and then provide technical and financial assistance to state and local governments to establish effective relinquishment processes on their own.”

– “…Creating a “Task Force on Online Harassment and Abuse” to identify the “connection between mass shootings, online harassment, extremism, and violence against women.”

– Moving to require all gun manufacturers to eventually manufacture only so-called “smart guns.”

Teresa Mull ([email protected]) is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.