One of the areas which Joe Biden promised to do something about during his campaign was to curb our Second Amendment gun rights. As long as it looked like he had a divided Congress to work with, there was little risk from that. But now that both Senate seats in Georgia having been lost to the Democrats, our Second Amendment rights are at risk.
Still, the president-elect is somewhat limited in what he can do. There are still two things barring his path. The first is the rules of the Senate itself. As it has stood for the last 200 years, cloture, the bringing of debate to an end and a bill to a vote, cannot happen without at least 60 votes. Unless several Republicans vote with the Democrat Senators, that can’t yet happen.
But it can happen if the new Senate Majority Leader decides to change the rules. This happened a few years back, reducing the need for a super-majority to approve justices to Federal Courts. Considering the example we’re already seeing from Speaker Pelosi, it wouldn’t be surprising if Chuck Shumer did the same in the Senate as soon as the gavel is passed to him.
With that being the case, it may be possible for Democrats to pass some pretty draconian gun control laws, reversing the gains in gun rights which have been being made over the last decade or more. There’s a strong possibility that they will try and pass all their favorite hobby horses, especially making the owning of “assault rifles” which really aren’t assault rifles and “high capacity magazines” which are really just normal capacity magazines, illegal.
Even without that, there are things that Biden can do as president to put pressure on gun rights. He has reportedly already talked with the head of ATF about imposing restrictions on 80% lowers and pistol stabilizers. These have been deemed legal by ATF in the past, but may soon become illegal, without any legislation being passed. All it would take is a reinterpretation of the regulations.
This has already seemed to start, even without Biden having been sworn in, with the recent raid on Polymer 80, a company which manufactures and provides 80% lowers for those who want to build a ghost gun. The company allegedly went over the line, providing a complete kit that goes beyond the 80% limit. ATF not only raided the company’s headquarters, but is reportedly harassing people who have recently bought from the company.
With this as the starting point, there’s no telling what else the new president is going to try and do to our gun rights. Apparently the fact that 35% of Democrat households now own a gun doesn’t matter to him. Control is much more important than paying attention to what the people want.
