By: Teresa Mull

Crime prevention researcher Dr. John Lott, together with Congressman Thomas Massie, have compiled a list of some of the lies Joe Biden recently relayed to the public during his press conference concerning the “prevention of gun violence” (more on that here).

In an article published by RealClearPolitics, the authors note that Biden’s assertions about our nation’s background check system are far from true. Biden claimed the system “has kept more than 3 million firearms out of the hands of dangerous people,” yet Lott and Massie point out that most of the time, gun purchase denials target the wrong people – often minorities – who happen to share the same name with a criminal.

“In 2017, for example, there were 112,000 initial denials for supposedly attempted prohibited purchases, but just 12 federal prosecutions by June 2018,” the article says. “The reason is that these weren’t real cases.”

Biden’s claim that gun manufacturers are “the only outfit that is exempt from being sued” is false for many reasons. As Lott and Massie note, gun makers can be sued for making defective guns, breaking the law, and so forth. Biden’s misleading statements are a deceitful attempt to paint the gun industry as a sacred entity held above the law and immune from laws governing other businesses.

What Biden really wants, of course, is “to put gunmakers out of business,” the authors write, by “[allowing] lawsuits against manufacturers and sellers whenever a crime, accident, or suicide occurs with a gun.”

These are just a few of the blatant falsehoods highlighted by Biden and Massie, the rest of which can be read here.

As a reminder, here’s what the National Association for Gun Rights reports Biden is attempting to do through executive action:

*** Outlawing the American tradition of home-crafted firearms without government permission.

*** Banning commonly-owned pistols that incorporate stabilizing braces, a harmless accessory that makes a gun safer and easier to shoot.

*** Directing the Justice Department to force its authority by drafting a model “Red Flag” Gun Confiscation bill and pressuring state governments to comply.

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