Biden unveils plan to address gun violence :: 02/04/2022

President Joe Biden is no fan of the Second Amendment, a point he seems determined to remind us of at every opportunity.

So, with so-called gun violence surging across the nation, many are eager to give him just such an opportunity. Unsurprisingly, he took it.

The Biden administration on Thursday announced a slew of measures aimed at cutting down on gun violence, including a new Justice Department effort specifically cracking down on the use of ghost guns.

The DOJ is launching a National Ghost Gun Enforcement Initiative ahead of President Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland‘s travel to New York City to discuss gun violence and anti-crime efforts.

The department’s latest initiative on ghost guns, which are privately made and difficult to track, will prioritize bringing federal charges against individuals who use those weapons. DOJ plans to train prosecutors on issues specifically related to ghost guns in a bid to better enforce laws against the weapons, which have grown in popularity.

…

Garland is directing U.S. attorneys to prioritize federal prosecutions of those who illegally sell or transfer firearms that are used in violent crimes, and the department is announcing a new initiative seeking to curb drug-related violence and overdose deaths by partnering with local law enforcement.

Biden is also calling for additional funds for local law enforcement.

However, he shouldn’t be shocked when absolutely none of this works the way it’s intended. Let’s talk about why.

First, for a change, we have some numbers of “ghost guns” to discuss, and unsurprisingly, there are issues with them.

Local law enforcement reported 1,750 suspected ghost guns in 2016, and that number had grown to 8,712 by 2020, according to DOJ statistics.

So we’re looking at “suspecting ghost guns” and comparing them to whatever the DOJ says?

First, we know that police haven’t actually found that many unserialized firearms. So what they’re doing is “estimating,” which really means that they’re guessing.

I mean, the NYPD only recovered 200 unserialized firearms as of November of last year for 2021, so I find it doubtful that any number in the 8,000+ range is anything but a guess.

The truth of the matter is that criminals are going to get whatever firearms they can. If they build them, they build them–and you can do that without any kits or 80 percent receivers or anything of the sort–but they’re going to buy them from whoever they can.

By focusing so heavily on so-called ghost guns, more accurately thought of as unserialized firearms, the Biden administration is suffering from tunnel vision. They’ve got it in their head that the current bugaboo for anti-Second Amendment types is the real problem and they don’t really care about any evidence to the contrary.

So while they’re focused on unserialized firearms, the illicit trade of guns will continue and pretty much nothing will change.

If New York City really wanted to address the problem, they’d at least consider the idea that maybe allowing law-abiding citizens to carry firearms to protect themselves might be in order. The fact that they won’t even consider it tells you everything you need to know about the issue.

But Biden is going to waste the tax dollars the rest of us pay to try and bail them out of a mess of their own making.

Then, to top it off, he focuses his attention on the wrong things.

I suppose we should just be amazed that Biden can focus any attention on anything at this point.

https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2022/02/03/biden-gun-violence-n55099