On July 9, 1985, during debate over the Firearm Owners Protection Act (FOPA), Senate Judiciary Committee member Joe Biden (D-DE) sided with the NRA and argued criminals can get guns “with or without gun control.”
NBC News notes the Judiciary Committee concurred with the Republican majority in support of FOPA, then it passed on the Senate floor “by a lopsided 79-15.”
Biden voted for FOPA, which NBC News describes as a piece of legislation that “allowed dealers to sell rifles, shotguns and ammunition through the mail, and, eventually, the internet.”
They noted that FOPA also “limited federal inspections of firearms dealers while allowing them to sell guns at gun shows, which helped them grow in size and popularity. And it made it easier for private collectors to sell guns without obtaining a federal dealers’ license, which would play a role in what later became known as the ‘gun show loophole.’”
And prior to voting for voting for FOPA, Biden actually argued in defense of it.
Biden described Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as a “rational Republican” because of his willingness to support gun control. https://t.co/FwH1Q8AwCY
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) May 31, 2022
The Congressional Record for the Senate on July 9, 1985, quotes Biden describing FOPA as a “balanced piece of legislation that protects the rights of private gun owners while not infringing on law enforcement’s ability to deal with those who misuse guns or violate laws.”
He added, “During my 12 and a half years as a member of this body, I have never believed that additional gun control or federal registration of guns would reduce crime. I am convinced that a criminal who wants a firearm can get one through illegal, nontraceable, unregistered sources, with or without gun control.”
On June 2, 2o22, President Biden pushed eight different gun controls, including an entire ban on a politically-defined category of firearms which Democrats call “assault weapons.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at [email protected]. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
