President Joe Biden will speak at what is being described as a “major gun violence prevention conference” on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., being presented by the Everytown for Gun Safety gun prohibition lobbying group.
According to CNN, Biden will appear at Everytown’s Gun Safety Action Fund “Gun Sense University.” This event is a gathering of volunteers, gun control advocates and survivors of violent crime for what CNN calls “training on organizing efforts.”
But Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, observed with pointed sarcasm, “Maybe Joe Biden can teach them how gun control laws stopped his son from illegally buying a gun.”
Gottlieb is also founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation.
The younger Biden is currently on trial for violating federal gun laws by allegedly lying on a Form 4473 about drug use when he purchased a Colt revolver during a period when he was using crack cocaine.
“Gun Sense University” will reportedly involve volunteers from Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action. They will visit Capitol Hill as part of the event to speak with lawmakers about gun control efforts, described as “gun safety” laws.
The event comes on the heels of appearances by Vice President Kamala Harris in conjunction with “National Gun Violence Awareness Day.” Harris leads the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which was launched last September with the involvement of gun control advocates. She was scheduled to appear at a campaign function in Maryland Friday with Democratic Senate nominee Angela Alsobrooks.
Tuesday’s event comes almost two years after Biden signed Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun control law enacted on June 25, 2022, the 146th anniversary of the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The law was ballyhooed by Biden and Democrats, and was also supported by Republicans who would not also support the president’s goal of banning so-called “assault weapons.” Biden has vowed to pursue that goal if he is re-elected in November, which is what he stated at a May rally in Philadelphia.
But what about that re-election?
A CNN/SSRS poll in April shows Biden trailing Donald Trump 49-43 percent, with the president having lost two points since a similar poll in January—which CNN described as “not significantly different—showed Biden at 45 percent.
But CNN also reported at the time that 55 percent of all Americans “now say they see Trump’s presidency as a success, while 44% see it as a failure.” That was a complete flip from a January 2021 poll which showed 55 percent said Trump’s tenure had been a failure.
The same poll had other bad news for Biden on non-gun-related issues which could tilt the Nov. 5 election. According to CNN, “Biden’s approval ratings for the economy (34%) and inflation (29%) remain starkly negative, as voters say economic concerns are more important to them when choosing a candidate than they were in each of the past two presidential contests.”
American gun owners are also consumers, and inflation hits them just as hard in the wallet as it does non-gun owners.
“Those voters who say the economy is deeply important break heavily for Trump in a matchup against Biden, 62% to 30%,” CNN reported.
Biden’s participation in the Everytown “Gun Sense University” event further underscores his commitment to restrictive gun control. His repeated promise to ban modern semiautomatic rifles cements his characterization as a gun prohibitionist.
