President Biden spoke Tuesday before a crowd of gun control advocates where he called for an assault weapons ban and other measures to limit access to firearms, but also failed to mention his son’s convictions hours earlier for lying about his past drug use while purchasing a gun.
The president was speaking in Washington D.C. before the Everytown for Gun Safety’s annual training conference, which brings together gun safety advocates and survivors of gun violence. During his remarks, Biden touted executive actions taken in an effort to reduce gun violence, such as addressing so-called “ghost guns” and weapons trafficking.
“Folks, we’re not stopping there. It’s time once again to do what I did when I was a senator: Ban assault weapons,” he said. “Who in God’s name needs a magazine that can hold 200 shells?”
Biden later scolded Republicans for opposing many gun control measures and for their scrutiny of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
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President Joe Biden gestures after speaking to Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s “Gun Sense University,” at the Washington Hilton on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Biden also took issue with the meaning of the Second Amendment.
“There’s never been a time that says you can own whatever you want,” he said. “You couldn’t own a cannon during the Civil War.”
Biden has previously said that cannon ownership was banned during the early years after America was founded.
“There were no federal laws about the type of gun you could own, and no states limited the kind of gun you could own,” David Kopel, the research director and Second Amendment project director at the Independence Institute, told The Washington Post in 2021. “Not until the early 1800s were there any efforts to pass restrictions on carrying concealed weapons.”
Randy Kozuch, Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) stated to Fox News Digital:
“The gun and magazine bans championed by President Biden will only result in law-abiding Americans being outgunned by criminals. Instead of playing politics, his administration should focus on prosecuting and punishing violent offenders. The NRA and its millions of members will continue to fight against bad proposals that restrict the rights of lawful gun owners.”
Hours earlier, the president’s son, Hunter Biden, was found guilty on all charges in his historic criminal case focused on his purchase of a firearm in 2018.
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A court sketch depicts Hunter Biden’s federal trial in Wilmington, Delaware on Monday, June 10, 2024. (William J. Hennessy Jr.)
“I am more grateful today for the love and support I experienced this last week from Melissa, my family, my friends, and my community than I am disappointed by the outcome. Recovery is possible by the grace of God, and I am blessed to experience that gift one day at a time,” Hunter Biden said in a statement following the verdict.
The younger Biden was convicted of making a false statement while trying to purchase a gun, making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federally licensed gun dealer, and possession of a gun by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
Prosecutors said he lied on a federal firearm form in October 2018 when he ticked a box labeled “No” when asked if he is an unlawful user of a firearm or addicted to controlled substances.
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Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, and his wife Melissa Cohen Biden walk outside the federal court as his trial on criminal gun charges continues, in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., June 11, 2024. REUTERS/Hannah Beier (Hunter Biden and Melissa Cohen Biden arrive at federal court)
The gun was purchased from a store called StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply in Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden will travel to Wilmington on Tuesday in the aftermath of his son’s guilty verdict.
“The president will depart the Washington Hilton en route to Joint Base Andrews,” the White House said in a Tuesday statement. “Then the president will depart Joint Base Andrews en route to Wilmington, Delaware,” the White House said in a statement.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.