The Pre-Election Biden Interview
The Media Hid
(2021-02-09) In 2020,
before the election, the Las Vegas Sun obtained a very
rare interview with then candidate Joe
Biden. However, instead of running it before the election,
they held it. One could be forgiven for wondering why – until
you read it. Biden does something he avoided during the bulk
of the campaign – he talks about gun control. In fact, he
makes four outrageous statements on the subject.
Statement one: "Gen Z — 7 to 17
years old. And the greatest fear of that generation is being shot in
school. It’s generating legitimate,
serious anxiety and affecting their mental health."
Is this a legitimate fear?
According to CNN, an average of 18 K-12 students were
killed year year in school shootings in the USA between 2009 and
2019. During the same time, enrollment in K-12 public schools
averaged
over 50 million. This means that the chances of a
K-12 student being killed in a school shooting in any year is less than
one in 2.75 MILLION. Even the liberal
Washington Post has wondered why there is such
fear of school shootings.
The following chart places the risk in perspective:
The following chart places the risk in perspective:
So, should student have a
legitimate fear of school shootings? Perhaps – but should it
affect their mental health? I think not.
A student is about twice as likely to die in a school bus crash – and
much more likely to die in a traffic accident – yet there is no uproar
over these deaths. How do we address these risks with our
kids? Don’t we reassure them that the risk is tiny?
Should we not do the same thing with school shootings?
What would be necessary to eliminate this tiny risk? Well, one could try confiscating all guns in America – but even if this could be tried, some kids would still get a hold of guns. What about confiscating so called “assault weapons”? Well, that wouldn’t even put a dent in the problem, since most school shootings involved handguns – including some of the most deadly. Gun confiscation would place the country at risk for civil war – is it really worth it? How many children would die in such a war?
Statement two: "An overwhelming majority of NRA members thought we should do away with assault weapons."
Really? I do not know a single NRA member who believes that. In fact, most own one.…
In fact, the AR15 is the most popular gun in America. Semi-automatic rifles (falsely called “assault rifles”) make up about 50% of all rifles sold. An estimated 20 million are now owned by private citizens. 2 million of the NRA’s 5 million members joined in response to threats to ban them.
Furthermore, little would be accomplished by banning such firearms as they are seldom used in crimes. Consider the FBI’s homicide statistics:
Rifles rank near the bottom of the list of murder weapons – and semi-auto rifles likely comprise under half of the rifles used in murders since such weapons are frequently weapons of opportunity. Even if we could eliminate every semi-auto rifle (impossible) and none of the murderers chose another weapon, such as a handgun or knife (impossible) the decrease in the murder rate would be so small as to be impossible to measure, given the year to year variation in the number of murders.
Again, is such an effort worth ripping the nation apart?
Statement three: "There’s no rationale whatsoever to have more than 10 rounds in a magazine, and even that is too much in my view."
So, let's see, you think I should have to face multiple assailants with what, six rounds? Police, who respond in groups to dangerous incidents have 15-20 rounds in their pistol magazines and 30 rounds in their rifle magazines. Armed citizens have to face multiple assailants with whatever their magazines hold. I wonder if Pres. Biden is willing to place such restrictions on his Secret Service detail? I think not.
The Federal Courts have found such a restriction in New York State to be unconstitutional. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that magazines holding greater than 10 rounds comprise more than half the magazines owned by citizens for lawful purposes and that they are therefore protected by the 2nd Amendment.
Is this why Biden is considering packing the Supreme Court?
Statement four: "The gun industry is the only outfit in America exempt from being sued."
The idea that gun makers are protected from all liability is, quite simply, a lie. The law only protects gun makers from being sued for the actions of others, provided they follow all laws to the letter. They are often sued over other issues. Should carmakers be liable for the actions of drunk drivers? Should the makers of hammers be sued when someone is murdered with one of their products?
That last question was asked by Sen. Bernie Sanders, who voted for the bill to provide limited liability protection to gun makers. Sen. Sanders stated reason for voting for the bill: Without such protection all gun makers and sellers would be sued out of business.
But, unlike the gun industry, government itself enjoys wide protection against liability lawsuits…. And government is a much bigger “outfit” than the gun industry.
End Notes:
The chances of a student passenger being killed in a school bus accident are approximately double that of being killed in a school shooting. (0.073 per 100k).
19 deaths per year:
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/811165
Average of approximately 26 million students transported:
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=67
Child death rates from this table:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1804754
Denver Post: US. gun manufacturers have produced 150 million guns since 1986
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/02/23/how-many-guns-are-there/
The Trace: How Many Assault Weapons Do Americans Own?
https://www.thetrace.org/2018/09/how-many-assault-weapons-in-the-us/
What would be necessary to eliminate this tiny risk? Well, one could try confiscating all guns in America – but even if this could be tried, some kids would still get a hold of guns. What about confiscating so called “assault weapons”? Well, that wouldn’t even put a dent in the problem, since most school shootings involved handguns – including some of the most deadly. Gun confiscation would place the country at risk for civil war – is it really worth it? How many children would die in such a war?
Statement two: "An overwhelming majority of NRA members thought we should do away with assault weapons."
Really? I do not know a single NRA member who believes that. In fact, most own one.…
In fact, the AR15 is the most popular gun in America. Semi-automatic rifles (falsely called “assault rifles”) make up about 50% of all rifles sold. An estimated 20 million are now owned by private citizens. 2 million of the NRA’s 5 million members joined in response to threats to ban them.
Furthermore, little would be accomplished by banning such firearms as they are seldom used in crimes. Consider the FBI’s homicide statistics:
Rifles rank near the bottom of the list of murder weapons – and semi-auto rifles likely comprise under half of the rifles used in murders since such weapons are frequently weapons of opportunity. Even if we could eliminate every semi-auto rifle (impossible) and none of the murderers chose another weapon, such as a handgun or knife (impossible) the decrease in the murder rate would be so small as to be impossible to measure, given the year to year variation in the number of murders.
Again, is such an effort worth ripping the nation apart?
Statement three: "There’s no rationale whatsoever to have more than 10 rounds in a magazine, and even that is too much in my view."
So, let's see, you think I should have to face multiple assailants with what, six rounds? Police, who respond in groups to dangerous incidents have 15-20 rounds in their pistol magazines and 30 rounds in their rifle magazines. Armed citizens have to face multiple assailants with whatever their magazines hold. I wonder if Pres. Biden is willing to place such restrictions on his Secret Service detail? I think not.
The Federal Courts have found such a restriction in New York State to be unconstitutional. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found that magazines holding greater than 10 rounds comprise more than half the magazines owned by citizens for lawful purposes and that they are therefore protected by the 2nd Amendment.
Is this why Biden is considering packing the Supreme Court?
Statement four: "The gun industry is the only outfit in America exempt from being sued."
The idea that gun makers are protected from all liability is, quite simply, a lie. The law only protects gun makers from being sued for the actions of others, provided they follow all laws to the letter. They are often sued over other issues. Should carmakers be liable for the actions of drunk drivers? Should the makers of hammers be sued when someone is murdered with one of their products?
That last question was asked by Sen. Bernie Sanders, who voted for the bill to provide limited liability protection to gun makers. Sen. Sanders stated reason for voting for the bill: Without such protection all gun makers and sellers would be sued out of business.
But, unlike the gun industry, government itself enjoys wide protection against liability lawsuits…. And government is a much bigger “outfit” than the gun industry.
End Notes:
The chances of a student passenger being killed in a school bus accident are approximately double that of being killed in a school shooting. (0.073 per 100k).
19 deaths per year:
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/811165
Average of approximately 26 million students transported:
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=67
Child death rates from this table:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr1804754
Denver Post: US. gun manufacturers have produced 150 million guns since 1986
https://www.denverpost.com/2018/02/23/how-many-guns-are-there/
The Trace: How Many Assault Weapons Do Americans Own?
https://www.thetrace.org/2018/09/how-many-assault-weapons-in-the-us/
