For the past several weeks, the Second Amendment Foundation has been running a 60-second message on various cable networks, encouraging gun owners to support the SAF effort to fight Joe Biden’s gun control agenda in the courts.
Now, the Biden re-election campaign has launched a 30-second advertisement touting Biden’s work to push restrictive gun policies. Biden uses his ad to attack former president—and now candidate—Donald Trump for his reluctance to adopt more gun control laws.
It boils down to a case of dueling advertisements, and SAF just upped the rhetoric by blasting Biden in a statement to the media.
“Our 60-second ad cuts right to the heart of Joe Biden’s lifelong crusade to ban the most popular rifles and pistols in the country today,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said. “Our message features his infamous remarks during a CNN Townhall program in which he admitted he wants to stop the sale of those firearms. Our message finally and forcefully reveals the truth about the Democrats’ gun ban agenda, and it hurts. While others have claimed they do not want to take away anyone’s guns, Joe Biden is right there on live television acknowledging their true intentions.”
The Townhall to which Gottlieb refers was an appearance almost three years ago in which the president told his audience “whether it’s a rifle or a 9mm pistol, it’s ridiculous. I’ve been trying to stop the sale of those things.”
The SAF advertisement shows images of important Democrat figures who have, over the years, contended that “nobody is coming after our guns.” Contrast that history with Biden’s remarks about gun bans and it is the basis for a message which SAF’s Gottlieb believes is causing problems for the Biden camp.
“Obviously,” Gottlieb said, “our message, which has been appearing on dozens of cable networks encouraging people to join our legal efforts to stop Biden’s unconstitutional gun bans, is having a devastating impact on the Biden campaign, otherwise they would not have spent the time and money to create a response ad. No matter how the Biden camp tries to portray Joe as a compassionate leader, the whole country knows he is a gun-grabbing zealot, thanks to our advertising.”
Stephen Gutowski at The Reload, “The ad is the Biden Campaign’s latest effort to highlight the significant gap between the current and former president on gun policy. Leaning into Biden’s aggressive gun-control positioning could help reignite support among Democratic base voters, who have been less than thrilled with his first term. However, it risks turning off less liberal swing voters or even some of the traditional Democrats who became new gun owners over the past few years.
“The campaign has largely ignored the latter concern throughout this election,” Gutowski adds. “In fact, in its announcement of the new ad, the Biden Campaign doubled down on the call for a new ban on AR-15s and other popular firearms.”
The war of words may hit Biden where it could hurt the most, the conviction of his son, Hunter, on three felony gun-related charges associated with the purchase of a Colt Cobra .38 Special at a time the younger Biden was addicted to crack cocaine.
“In the wake of recent events,” Gottlieb said, “President Biden will eventually have to acknowledge the greatest failure of his half-century of gun control extremism, the conviction of his own son in a Delaware courtroom, for violating the federal laws Joe fondly claims he shepherded through Congress. His gun ban agenda has failed to keep the country safe, and more importantly, Joe Biden has failed to uphold his oath of office to protect and defend our Constitutional rights.”
Gottlieb described Biden’s gun control ad as “a desperate attempt to distract the public from the truth we’ve been sharing for weeks.”
