Biden – Senate Gun Control Deal “Isn’t Everything He Wanted” But He Will Sign It If It Comes To His Desk

WASHINGTON- President Joe Biden announced his intention to sign legislation resulting from an in-principal agreement from a bipartisan group of senators that could result in restrictions on Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

The in-principal gun control deal — with the initial backing of ten GOP Senators — was announced on Sunday.

While any Republican supporting gun control is far from ideal, ten Senators is a significant number because of the fact that they could break a filibuster brought by a principled legislator willing to take a stand against their gun control.

While no legislation has been written yet, the lead Senate Democrat negotiator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), wrote on his website that the agreement included so-called red flag laws, federal spending on “children and family mental health services,” federal spending for safety measures and training for school personnel and students, penalties for straw purchasing, and an investigative period for reviews of anyone under the age of 21 who wishes to purchase a handgun.

Joe Biden’s office released a statement on the proposed legislation:

Obviously, it does not do everything that I think is needed, but it reflects important steps in the right direction, and would be the most significant gun safety legislation to pass Congress in decades,” the President wrote in his statement. “With bipartisan support, there are no excuses for delay, and no reason why it should not quickly move through the Senate and the House.”

In addition to Murphy, the President made sure to specifically thank Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tx), Kyrsten Sinema (D- Ariz.), and Thom Tillis (R- N.C.) “for their tireless work to produce this proposal.”

Why did those Republicans back this gun control effort? Well, for four of them, the answer seems to be that they’re immune from political repercussions because they aren’t running for reelection.

“There is a reduced chance of political blowback for the Republicans who signed the proposal; four of the 10 GOP senators are retiring this year. Another five are not up for reelection until 2026,” USA Today reported. “The 10th, Romney, often goes his own way.”

Worthless NRA Ratings

Eight of the ten Senate Republicans backing the bipartisan gun control bill have an A or an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association. According to Fox News, the NRA would not comment on any potential legislation until its full text is available.

Other gun-control groups, who more staunchly support the rights of gun owners, did not wait to respond.

We reached out to the American Firearms Association for comment, as they’ve recently made headlines for their condemnation of any new gun control.

Chris Dorr, Executive Director of the American Firearms Association, responded:

This DC gun control push is not about saving lives. It’s about the left and their paid-for politicians disarming their political opposition.”

OUR TAKE

The Senate agreement is politics at its most cynical. Do congressional Republicans mean to tell us it just so happens that the ten GOP senators are either retiring or are not up for reelection in the upcoming midterms?

Are there more Republican Senators that secretly want to get behind this awful agreement but fear losing their base — and thus their seat — as happened with Rep. Chris Jacobs (R-NY) in the House?

Or did Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) intentionally round up a group that he knew would not immediately face the wrath of gun owners at election time?

Are they stupid or really think that gun owners are so stupid that they’ll fall for this? It’s hard to tell.

Yet, with the agreement only being in-principal and with no legislation being written yet, this battle is far from over.

Gun owners can and must tell their legislators to hold the line and not compromise one iota on their Second Amendment rights.

Take a minute to write your legislators. You can use the form provided by the American Firearms Association below: