The president’s unilateral restrictions are legally dubious and unlikely to “save lives.”
by Jacob Sullum
Reason.com
During a 2019 presidential debate, Joe Biden scolded Kamala Harris, then his opponent for the Democratic nomination, for promising to impose gun control by executive fiat instead of through legislation. “Let’s be constitutional!” he said. “We’ve got a Constitution.”
Today President Biden and Vice President Harris, frustrated by the legislative branch’s failure to approve the new firearm restrictions they favor, announced “six initial actions to address the gun violence public health epidemic.” All of these actions, they say, will “save lives” and are “fully within the Administration’s authority and the Second Amendment.” There are sound reasons to question all three of those claims.
One of Biden’s “six initial actions” is the nomination of gun control activist David Chipman to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), which understandably alarms gun rights supporters but is subject to approval by the Senate.