Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN News

Biden’s Anti-gun Lies are Too Much Even for Legacy Press Fact Checkers

Monday, April 19, 2021

Biden’s Anti-gun Lies are Too Much Even for Legacy Press Fact Checkers

With President Joe Biden securely in office and the 2024 presidential election 43 months away, the mainstream press has determined it an acceptable time to expose the frequent fibber’s most flagrant falsehoods. This week saw a plethora of so-called “fact-checkers” take issue with the blatantly false statements Biden made while announcing his “initial actions” on gun control on April 8. 

In touting H.R. 8, which would criminalize the private transfer of firearms, Biden stated, 

These bills, one, require background checks for anyone purchasing a gun at a gun show or an online sale.

Most people don’t know: If you walk into a store and you buy a gun, you have a background check. But you go to a gun show, you can buy whatever you want and no background check. 

This decades-old gun show talking point is a lie.

There is no “gun show loophole” or “online sales loophole.” Federal law requires all firearm dealers to be licensed and to initiate a National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) check before transferring a firearm to a non-dealer, regardless of where the transfer takes place. Further, those “dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business with the principal objective of livelihood and profit” are required to be licensed as firearms dealers. Dealing in firearms without a license is punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. 

Oddly enough, the contours of the current dealer licensing regime were elaborated upon at length by the Obama-Biden administration in 2016. As part of a set of “executive actions,” BATFE developed a document titled “Do I Need a License to Buy and Sell Firearms?” Despite Biden’s claim to have been intimately involved in Obama’s gun control efforts, it appears the noted scholar has little competence with the subject matter. 

The New York Times called Biden’s gun show remarks “exaggerated.” Correctly summarizing the law, the paper explained,

Licensed firearms dealers are required to look up potential buyers in a background check system before a sale is approved. Private sellers are not required to perform such background checks, and some do sell guns at gun shows. But that does not mean that all dealers at gun shows are private, or that all sales at those shows forgo a background check.

a 1999 study from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or A.T.F., found that half to three-quarters of sellers at gun shows were, in fact, licensed. 

Politifact rated Biden’s gun show comments “Mostly False.” The Annenberg Public Policy Center’s FactCheck.org called Biden’s statements “wrong.” Going further, the outfit explained, 

It is also worth noting that the [Congressional Research Service], in its 2019 report, said ‘private firearms sales at gun shows … did not appear to be a significant source of guns’ for federal and state prisoners convicted of crimes involving firearms.

The criticism from a wing of the Annenberg Foundation is noteworthy, as the organization has made contributions to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Attacking the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), Biden claimed,

The only industry in America — a billion-dollar industry — that can’t be sued — has exempt from being sued — are gun manufacturers.

this is the only outfit that is exempt from being sued.

The PLCAA was enacted in 2005, with broad bipartisan support, to protect the firearms industry from frivolous and politically-motivated lawsuits. In the mid-1990s, gun control advocates, big city politicians, and trial attorneys teamed up in an attempt to use the courts to bilk the gun industry for millions and force them to agree to gun control measures that gun control supporters were unable to enact in Congress. The suits sought to hold members of the industry liable for the criminal behavior of those who misused their products.

These suits, though they were of little merit, posed a grave threat to the industry - and in turn, America’s gun owners. In 1998, the executive director of the anti-gun U.S. Conference of Mayors was quoted by the New York Times as stating, “[t]he lawyers are seeing green on this issue… they think they can bring the gun industry to its knees.” One of those attorneys “seeing green,” John Coale, was quoted in a 2000 Washington Post article remarking, “[t]he legal fees alone are enough to bankrupt the industry.”

The PLCAA merely prohibits lawsuits against the gun industry for the criminal misuse of their products by a third party. Suits against the industry for knowingly unlawful sales, negligent entrustment, and those predicated on traditional products liability grounds are still permitted.

The New York Times took issue with Biden’s characterization of the PLCAA, and pointed out that the industry is still subject to suit “for breaches of warranty or if a manufacturer or dealer sells a gun knowing that it would be used in a crime.” The Times also noted that the firearms industry’s protection is not unique, explaining,

The gun industry is also not the only industry to have special protections against lawsuits. For example, technology companies also enjoy a legal shield known as Section 230, which protects websites from liability for content created by their users. 

The Washington Post and FactCheck.org also pointed out the inaccuracies in Biden’s comments on the PLCAA.

Prominent anti-gun politicians have made a habit of spewing falsehoods about the PLCAA. In 2015 PolitiFact gave failed Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton a “False” rating for a claim that the firearms industry was “the only business in America that is wholly protected from any kind of liability.”

Biden also stretched the truth in regards to so-called “red flag” laws, which empower the government to confiscate an individual’s guns without due process. Biden claimed, “States that have red flag laws have seen and — seen a reduction in the number of suicides in their states.” Aside from the legitimate discussion as to whether the state should be further empowered in order to protect individuals from themselves, the evidence isn’t there for Biden’s claim.

It isn’t rare for Biden to deceive the public regarding firearms. What is rare is the stinging rebuke the president received from an often fawning mainstream press. A cynic could be forgiven for being skeptical that such dogged coverage will continue into the next election cycle.

IN THIS ARTICLE
Joe Biden Fact Check
TRENDING NOW
Third Circuit Strikes Some New Jersey Carry Restrictions in NRA Case

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Third Circuit Strikes Some New Jersey Carry Restrictions in NRA Case

Yesterday, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Siegel v. Platkin, striking some of the carry restrictions New Jersey enacted in response to the NRA’s landmark Supreme Court victory, New York State Rifle & ...

Gun Control “Journalist” Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

News  

Monday, September 8, 2025

Gun Control “Journalist” Says the Quiet Part Out Loud

Pure gun control. As in disarmament and banning of firearms. It’s rare that anti-gunners get straight to the exact point that we have been warning of for decades. 

Due Process: The Backbone of Legal Legitimacy

News  

Monday, September 8, 2025

Due Process: The Backbone of Legal Legitimacy

Close observers of the gun debate often see references to due process.

The Desperate Deflection to the “Red State Murder Problem”

News  

Monday, September 8, 2025

The Desperate Deflection to the “Red State Murder Problem”

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) may have thought he had scored against President Donald Trump in a recent war of words over rampant crime and the deployment of federal law enforcement agents to Democratic-led cities

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Washington’s Magazine Ban

Monday, September 8, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief Urging SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Washington’s Magazine Ban

Today, the National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari in a case challenging Washington State’s ban on firearm magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.

Illinois: Governor Signs Mandatory Firearm Storage Law

Wednesday, September 3, 2025

Illinois: Governor Signs Mandatory Firearm Storage Law

Earlier this month, Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 8 into law. This legislation imposes new mandatory firearm storage requirements on law-abiding gun owners.  

Update: North Carolina House Reschedules Veto Override Vote

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Update: North Carolina House Reschedules Veto Override Vote

Today, the House rescheduled the veto override vote on Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to Monday, September 22. 

Minnesota: Senate Gun Violence Prevention Working Group Meeting on Monday

Friday, September 12, 2025

Minnesota: Senate Gun Violence Prevention Working Group Meeting on Monday

On Monday, September 15th, the Minnesota Senate will hold a special working group on "gun violence prevention."

Supreme Court Review Sought in NRA-Backed Challenge to California’s Magazine Ban

Friday, August 15, 2025

Supreme Court Review Sought in NRA-Backed Challenge to California’s Magazine Ban

Today, a Petition for Certiorari was filed asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Duncan v. Bonta, a case—backed by the National Rifle Association and California Rifle & Pistol Association—challenging California’s prohibition on magazines capable of holding ...

Washington Post Admits that Anti-gun Lawfare “Cannot be the Solution” to Crime

News  

Monday, March 17, 2025

Washington Post Admits that Anti-gun Lawfare “Cannot be the Solution” to Crime

In a turnabout worthy of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Washington Post (WAPO) published an editorial last Tuesday criticizing the gun control movement for ignoring the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) and pursuing its agenda in ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.