Joe Biden lied repeatedly about the history of gun laws in the United States, and then made an argument that was either tyrannical or radically pro-Second Amendment – telling Americans, “if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons.”
“The Second Amendment from the day it was passed, limited the type of people who could own a gun and what type of weapon you could own. You couldn’t buy a cannon,” Biden said, making a total of zero true claims. The Second Amendment places no limitations on the people, it places limitations on the government by protecting the people’s right to bear arms. Further, for the vast majority of the history of the United States, you could buy a cannon or any gun with no federal restrictions. It was not until 1934 that the first federal gun law was passed, and the Second Amendment did not apply to the states until the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868.
Biden continued, “[Those who] say the blood of the blood of patriots, you know, and all this stuff about how we’re going to have to move against the government.”
“Well, the tree of liberty is not [watered with] the blood of patriots, what’s happened is that there never been, if you want, if you think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons,” Biden said. “The point is that there’s always been the ability to limit, rationally limit, the type of weapon that can be owned, and who can own it.”
After Biden either threated or advised the people on the F-15s and nukes he thinks are required to defend themselves against an oppressive government, he went on to lie again about limits on the Second Amendment existing “always.”
As James Madison, a Founding Father and the fourth President of the United States wrote in Federalist 46, the sole purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure the people would have the power to defend themselves against a tyrannical government by protecting the right to bear arms.
In the paper, Madison explains, “a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one-hundredth part of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms.”
He adds that Americans have “the advantage of being armed,” compared to the people of other nations. In his conclusion, Madison advises against the argument that Americans would be unable to defend their rights against the government, writing, “Let us not insult the free and gallant citizens of America with the suspicion, that they would be less able to defend the rights of which they would be in actual possession, than the debased subjects of arbitrary power would be to rescue theirs from the hands of their oppressors.”
