OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
Despite watching the desperate calls from Ukrainian civilians for more weapons and ammunition amid Russia’s invasion, the Left still learned their lesson on guns.
Joe Biden and the Democrats have been quietly ramping up gun control efforts.
The White House is reportedly “moving ahead with several executive actions specifically targeting legal gun owners.”
Under Biden, the ATF has declared that it now considers Forced Reset Triggers (FRTs) to be machine guns.
The ATF is expected to release a new ruling on unfinished frames and receivers.
The ATF will is expected to release new rules on pistol stabilizing braces, which is the Left’s attempt to take aim at AR- and AK-style pistols that have braces attached.
These new regulations could result in millions of lawfully purchased firearms by Americans to be retroactively designated as short barreled rifles and subject to the provisions of the National Firearms Act.
The White House is expected to soon release a statement on Biden’s “comprehensive gun crime reduction strategy.”
Stefanie Feldman, deputy assistant to the president and senior adviser to the Domestic Policy Council, admits that they have organized a 12-person team to drive “a gun violence reduction agenda.”
Although team was initial created soon after Biden took office, it has grown significantly in recent months.
These new rules are liable to have a substantial impact on legal gun owners (several 2A groups have already indicated they’ll fight the regulations in court), and they definitely have the support and approval of gun control activists, but the gun control lobby is still lobbying for Biden to “do more” on their pet issue in Congress; specifically getting behind a new push for his proposed gun ban and compensated confiscation plan, or at least a “universal background check” bill aimed at legal gun owners selling firearms from their private collection.
With support for gun control below 50% in recent polls, however, Biden and his political handlers seem to have settled on a lower-key pre-election strategy of using the ATF and DOJ to promulgate new rules targeting lawful gun owners while avoiding a bitter (and losing) fight in Congress over the centerpiece of Biden’s gun control agenda. The problem with that strategy, at least for Biden, is that there’s an intensity gap between Second Amendment advocates and anti-gun activists, and there are far more voters who believe its more important to protect the right to keep and bear arms than to impose new restrictions. The president may be hoping to satiate the gun prohibitionists with his executive actions, but I think he’s going to stir up a hornets’ nest of opposition instead.
As Joe Biden’s approval rating declines to a new low on what seems like a daily basis, the White House is growing increasingly desperate to shore up support among its base, and that includes outreach to the gun control lobby that spent tens of millions of dollars on his 2020 campaign.
Some gun control activists have publicly expressed frustration over the fact that Biden hasn’t made new restrictions on legal gun owners more of a focus of his administration, but as the anti-gun press outlet The Trace reports, the White House plans on showing off its commitment to the issue today by issuing a… written handout.
For the first time since President Joe Biden took office, and in response to mounting criticism that he has abandoned the cause of reducing gun violence, the White House is providing details about the team responsible for that policy. The administration is expected to address those concerns publicly on Monday in the form of a three-page fact sheet, an effort to reassure allies that violence prevention is still a priority.
