Biden Wouldn't Back Trudeau-Style Handgun Ban in U.S.: White House

[867-5309.]

Source: Newsweek

As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prepares to introduce a bill that would place a national freeze on handgun ownership, the White House clarified that President Joe Biden has no plans to make similar moves south of the border nor does he support such a ban in the U.S.

"He does not support a ban on the sale of all handguns," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during Tuesday's briefing.

Trudeau proposed new rules to significantly restrict the number of handguns in circulation in Canada on Monday, saying that "what this means is that it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere" in the country.


Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/biden-wouldnt-back-trudeau-style-handgun-ban-us-white-house-1711821

[dlk]

1. First things first

We need an assault weapons ban.

[FloridaBlues]

6. Agreed an assault weapons but I don't see that happening here.

We will never get 10 republicans to agree.

[WarGamer]

11. Not just that...

But SCOTUS would most likely trash it even IF it were made into law.

[dlk]

12. Yes, not with the current makeup of the Senate

They don’t value human lives enough.

[NullTuples]

41. Two weeks ago, Trump judges reversed California's assault rifle age restrictions

U.S. appeals court overturns California ban on semiautomatic rifle sales to those under 21
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-11/federal-court-rules-california-ban-on-gun-sales-to-people-under-21-unconstitutional]

[dlk]

44. Of course they did

Trump’s legacy, the gift that keeps on giving. Unless there is federal legislation and the Supreme Court is expanded, this crisis will only deepen. Republicans have put us on the path to fascism.

[FBaggins]

2. Nor should he

That would run directly opposed to Heller and would never stand.

I'm not sure any of the nine would vote for that.

[DemocraticPatriot]

20. Hey, didn't you hear ??

"Precedent" doesn't matter anymore...

[Hugh_Lebowski]

38. So, kinda like Hobbs runs directly opposed to Roe ...

And yet ...

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Being cynical: Midterms

[stopdiggin]

27. also a good chance that

this is a consistent stance - and it would certainly be consistent with a wide swath of the voting public. There is simply no widespread call for this type of legislation on this side of the border. Why on earth would we be riding Joe Biden about it?

[TygrBright]

4. Consider the source.

Newsweek has deteriorated into a rag.

They're just stirring shit.

disgustedly,
Bright

[Celerity]

21. Yes, and it has been posted a lot lately, out of the blue again. Same for the shit NY Post (Murdoch)

[brooklynite]

26. So quoting the White House Press Secretary is now "wrong"?

[stopdiggin]

28. no. but apparently 'somebody' felt the need

to pose a question that had little or no point ... I suppose covering the answer is not out of bounds - it's just that the coverage (and making it your headline) is equally 'pointless.'
(unless your aim is to stir the pot?)

[AntivaxHunters]

5. Sigh...........

[tonekat]

7. Speaking of Heller...

This article by Scalia and Stevens' clerks in today's NYT makes the point that Heller is not being interpreted correctly.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/opinion/supreme-court-heller-guns.html

We Clerked for Justices Scalia and Stevens. America Is Getting Heller Wrong.

A snippet:

"In the 14 years since the Heller decision, Congress has not enacted significant new laws regulating firearms, despite progressives’ calls for such measures in the wake of mass shootings. Many politicians cite Heller as the reason. But they are wrong."

[madaboutharry]

8. This headline from Newsweek is bullshit.

Last time I looked The United States Constitution and the rulings of The United States Supreme Court did not apply to Canada.

[Celerity]

19. Newsweek itself is bullshit, its now a RW zombie mag, specialising in shitstirs of Dems

[XorXor]

9. If we're going to go the ban route then I don't see how half measures will change much

The focus on rifles is only because the killers in these high profile mass shootings like to use them for whatever reason. If we just ban AR-15/AK/etc.. type rifles then we're going to expend a lot of political capital on something that will likely not impact much. These people will just switch to using handguns. The way most of these mass shootings take place the rifle doesn't really give much of an "advantage" to these shooters.

In this most recent shooting the kids who were shot would have been shot whether he had a rifle or handgun. Perhaps an argument could be made that the police would have been more likely to storm the room if he had only handguns, but I don't know if I accept that. There was decision made to treat it as a barricaded suspect instead of an active shooter. I think the police would have done the same either way. A lot of cops don't seem to take the whole protect and serve thing seriously. I just saw a video of a cop shooting a guy because he had a rock in his hand. I couldn't imagine firefighters not saving people because they are too afraid for their own life... But I digress.

The point is that simply focusing on rifles isn't a solution. In fact doing so ignores the vast majority of deaths due to guns. It just seems like the low hanging shiny fruit, but ultimately it won't do a whole lot. Maybe this means banning all guns except for shotguns and bolt action rifles. Sure that wouldn't stop all gun deaths, but at least it would seriously put damper on the numbers.

Of course the complexities of doing that is a different discussion which I don't really have any good thoughts on.

[cstanleytech]

10. Biden knows it's pointless to back a ban because an

amendment to the constitution would have to be implemented first and that’s something the states have to decide to change.

[NickB79]

13. This stems from comments he made earlier about 9mm ammo

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/05/30/remarks-by-president-biden-after-marine-one-arrival-10/

And I sat with a trauma doctor, and I asked him — I said, “What’s the difference? Why are so many people…” — and not that many more people were being shot. This is now 20 years ago, or 25 years. I said, “Why are they dying?” And they showed me x-rays. He said, “A .22-caliber bullet will lodge in the lung, and we can probably get it out, may be able to get it, and save the life. A 9mm bullet blows the lung out of the body.”

So the idea of these high-caliber weapons is of — there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of thinking about self-protection, hunting.

That sounded to some like a call to ban the most common firearm for self defence in the US. Looks like they've clarified his statement, thankfully.

[Polybius]

14. Because he can't

Not only would it would be stuck down instantly, it would never pass.

[TeamProg]

15. We need to get rid of handguns and all auto and semiauto

rifles.

Just bolt action, lever action and single shot rifles.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

33. Yeeaahh, ok.

Good luck with that.

[TeamProg]

34. You aren't at all interested in saving lives it seems.. n/t

[MarineCombatEngineer]

37. You aren't at all interested in reality it seems. nt

[TeamProg]

39. Grow up. Whoops! Too late.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

45. Wow!!!!

That was a snappy comeback.

Have a great Thrusday.

[Kaleva]

42. Go ahead. The sooner you get that done, the more lives you'll have saved.

Keep us informed on how much of each day and the amount of money you spend on this.

Best of Luck!

[Polybius]

46. Make a time machine

Take out the inventor of gun powder before he invents it.

[Trust_Reality]

16. In the past 12, 15, 16, 20 (whatever) years, how many votes have been cast by Republicans

and how many votes have been cast by Democrats for any kind of gun safety, gun management legislation?

Tell me I'm wrong that the gun management problem is overwhelmingly caused by Republicans. Aren't Republican politicians just greedy, self-serving bastards?

Hand guns are for robbing stores and committing suicide.
Assault weapons are for mass murder.
Hunting rifles and shotguns are for the "sport" of killing animals. Not my thing, but reasonable.

Should we feel sorry for all the poor suckers who need guns because they are fearful? What a sad life they must have, living in fear.

Incidentally, owning a gun out of fear reinforces the fear. I suggest that people who own hand guns or assault weapons all have a mental health problem.

This country has an epidemic of insanity.

[EX500rider]

49. "What a sad life they must have, living in fear."

According to a United States Department of Justice report:
38% of assaults & 60% of rapes occur during home invasions.
Over 2,000,000 homes will experience a break-in or burglary this year.
There are over 4,500 home burglaries per day in the United States.
The average number of home invasions per year was 1,030,000 between 1994 and 2010.

Being prepared is not the same as being afraid. I have a fire extinguisher and a smoke alarm, does not mean I live in "fear" of fires.

[Cheezoholic]

17. Our country is too big

and there are just too many weapons out there. The only countries close to our size that have weapons bans are dictatorships or close to it. We can't do what Australia did we're too big. The best we can do is making the purchase of weapons more restrictive through required training by type of weapon, licensing, by type and reason of both guns and owners existing and new, registering all both guns and owners existing and new, requiring insurance all. both guns and owners existing and new and abolishing the gun show shit. Treat guns as cars, it's the best we got right now, we have systems already in place to do it, and I think it will sell to the majority.

[AntivaxHunters]

24. This is always said as an excuse

to protect the status quo.
Always.
Be it healthcare, eradicating poverty, student loan forgiveness, medical debt forgiveness, on and on, and that mindset is a big reason why we're in the mess we're in. We have the means to do ANYTHING we wish to as a country. Literally. The fact that we're not should alarm everyone.

Look at what we've done with smoking with regards to planes & indoor dining. Look at seatbelt laws. Look at liquor laws. Biden helped get the AWB done originally.
We can do it.

[Cheezoholic]

40. Not meant as an excuse

My point was a response to the OP. If someone can tell me how to confiscate nearly 400 million guns in this country without deploying troops to enforce it well please do. It's simply not realistic. We've let the problem get too far out of hand. There are ways to start to fix the problem, some that I mentioned. There is no reason that guns can't be regulated like so many other things in our lives. I really think if we would start treating guns like vehicles it would be a huge help. As for assault style weapons themselves, there are much fewer of those types of weapons in the wild. Re-instate AWB or at the very least make access to them extremely stringent. I can't drive a semi truck or fly an airplane without very specific intense training and once granted a license it and myself would scrutinized every year. If they love AR15s that much they would jump through the hoops to continue to use or purchase them. Outlaw high capacity magazines period.

And a BIG BIG STEP would be to repeal that idiotic foolish gun show loop hole.

We are not too big to solve the other issues you mentioned, if anything we're big enough

[Celerity]

18. fuck that RW shitrag Newsweek, far too many times is it being posted again here all of a sudden

[oldsoftie]

23. Do you have any proof that their story is false?

They're not infoWars.

[Celerity]

29. Why are you defending the use of a RW source? It is far too often posted here, often as a pot stir

Newsweek has become a right wing rag with a RW agenda and pushing RW tropes and CT

I have been seeing its content posted here at times, including OP's, and its articles quite often inject RW tropes and ideologies on a one-sided basis, which are given cover by its name and due to so many being familiar with it as a major magazine at one point in the past.


Newsweek and the Rise of the Zombie Magazine

How a decaying legacy magazine is being used to launder right-wing ideas and conspiracy theories.

https://newrepublic.com/article/158968/newsweek-rise-zombie-magazine

Writing in The Columbia Journalism Review last year, Daniel Tovrov depicted Newsweek, once one of America’s most distinguished magazines, as a shell of its former self. All that was left was clickbait, op-eds from the likes of Nigel Farage and Newt Gingrich, and a general sense of drift. “Nobody I spoke to for this article had a sense of why Newsweek exists,” Tovrov wrote. “While the name Newsweek still carries a certain authority—remnants of its status as a legacy outlet—and the magazine can still bag an impressive interview now and then, it serves an opaque purpose in the media landscape.”

Last week, Newsweek suggested one possible purpose: The legitimization of narratives straight out of the right-wing fever swamps. An op-ed written by John Eastman, a conservative lawyer and founding director of the Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, coyly suggested that Kamala Harris, who was born in California, may not be eligible to serve as vice president because her parents were immigrants. It was, as many pointed out, a racist attack with no constitutional merit, on par with the birther conspiracy theory that claimed Barack Obama was born in Kenya. Within a few hours, Eastman’s op-ed was being brandished by President Trump, who told reporters he had “heard” Harris may not be eligible to serve.

Three days after the op-ed was published, Newsweek apologized, sort of. In an editor’s note signed by global Editor-in-Chief Nancy Cooper and opinion editor Josh Hammer, the magazine acknowledged, “We entirely failed to anticipate the ways in which the essay would be interpreted, distorted, and weaponized.... This op-ed is being used by some as a tool to perpetuate racism and xenophobia. We apologize.” Still, the magazine refused to recognize what was obvious—that the op-ed was intended to spark questions about the eligibility of a Black woman running for high office. Newsweek’s editors merely feigned horror that the op-ed was taken in the only possible way it could have been taken.

The publication of Eastman’s op-ed says a great deal about the state of Newsweek’s opinion section, which has become a clearinghouse for right-wing nonsense. But it also points to a larger crisis in journalism itself: The rise of the zombie publication, whose former legitimacy is used to launder extreme and conspiratorial ideas. Even by the volatile standards of journalism in the twenty-first century, Newsweek’s recent problems are extraordinary. There are the usual issues: a sharp decline in print subscribers, Google and Facebook, the difficulty of running a mass-market general interest news magazine in an age of hyperpartisanship. But Newsweek has also been raided by the Manhattan district attorney’s office (a former owner and chief executive pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering charges in February) and has been accused of deep ties to a shadowy Christian cult, amid many other scandals.

snip

Josh Hammer, Newsweek Opinion Editor, is incredibly right wing

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213840112

From the RW Daily Signal:

Conservative Editor Brings Fresh Perspective to Newsweek

https://www.dailysignal.com/2021/08/02/conservative-editor-brings-fresh-perspective-to-newsweek/

How Newsweek Collapsed

It stands accused of improper ties to a religious institution. Its newsroom has been gutted by firings and resignations. Here is the inside story of the magazine’s explosive growth and spectacular downfall.

https://slate.com/technology/2018/02/what-went-wrong-at-newsweek-according-to-current-and-former-staffers.html

it's at the point of being as bad as Fux Snooz in many of its articles

For instance it posted January 6 Trump insurrection attorney John Eastman's attack piece on Kamala Harris claiming she was not eligible to be VP

Some Questions for Kamala Harris About Eligibility

JOHN C. EASTMAN , PROFESSOR OF LAW, CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY AND SENIOR FELLOW, CLAREMONT INSTITUTE

https://www.newsweek.com/some-questions-kamala-harris-about-eligibility-opinion-1524483

more RW bullshit


Russia: A Problem, Not a Threat

https://www.newsweek.com/russia-problem-not-threat-opinion-1584852


Georgia's Voting Law Doesn't Go Far Enough (Charlie Kirk, Founder and President, Turning Point USA )

https://www.newsweek.com/georgias-voting-law-doesnt-go-far-enough-opinion-1581740


Most Voters Don't Want More Judges on the High Court

https://www.newsweek.com/most-voters-dont-want-more-judges-high-court-opinion-1585484


Why Derek Chauvin's Guilty Verdict May Be Overturned

https://www.newsweek.com/why-derek-chauvins-guilty-verdict-may-overturned-supreme-court-opinion-1585401


Countless Lives Have Been Cut Short by Marijuana

https://www.newsweek.com/countless-lives-have-been-cut-short-marijuana-opinion-1584819


Tucker Carlson Says Derek Chauvin Verdict Taught BLM That 'Violence Works'

https://www.newsweek.com/tucker-carlson-says-derek-chauvin-verdict-taught-blm-that-violence-works-1585582


Biden UN Ambassador's Attack on America Won't Win the U.S. Any Friends

https://www.newsweek.com/biden-un-ambassadors-attack-america-wont-win-us-any-friends-opinion-1584773


Joe Manchin's $11 Minimum Wage More Popular Than Biden's $15—Among Democrats and Republicans

https://www.newsweek.com/joe-manchins-11-minimum-wage-more-popular-bidens-15among-democrats-republicans-1573489


Biden's 'Right Verdict' Comments Ripped After Maxine Waters Controversy

https://www.newsweek.com/joe-bidens-right-verdict-comments-about-chauvin-trial-ripped-after-maxine-waters-controversy-1585161


Daunte Wright Protester Bashes Joe Biden for Failing Black Community

https://www.newsweek.com/daunte-wright-protester-bashes-joe-biden-failing-black-community-you-said-you-got-our-back-1584539


On Anti-Asian Hate, Frustration Builds on Biden's Slow Response

https://www.newsweek.com/anti-asian-hate-frustration-builds-bidens-slow-response-1584361

[oldsoftie]

31. I'll always defend true stories. I'm an adult & don't need to be told NOT to read any source.

Otherwise you sound just like the RW you claim to despise. They always clamor about "Never listen to the mainstream media!" And then they post a story and ask "Why isn't this reported on the mainstream media?". That they claim to never read, so how would they know?
Will I buy a subscription to Newsweek? Never. But I won't ignore a story just because of who they are. And actually, that Carlson story seems to be written to make him look like a fool. Not that its a hard thing to do

[Celerity]

32. this story is (as are a tonne of Newsweek pieces) framed for divisive impact, & uses a false premiss

(that Biden has the constitutional power to do what Canada did) as the lede, which is an attempt to false frame Biden as not doing enough on guns. They damn well know what they are doing.

[C Moon]

22. And on the other front: "Addressing NRA in Houston, Donald Trump rejects gun regulations"

But then..."Guns are banned during trump's upcoming speech at the NRA conference"

The GOP are a bunch of self-serving jackasses who HATE our country and constitution.
trump is at the top of that heap.

[oldsoftie]

25. Guns were banned at the ENTIRE NRA convention I believe.

[AngryOldDem]

30. This would never fly here.

All the right would have to do is yell “They’re coming for your GUNNZ!” and that would be that.

The Murphy-Cornyn effort bears watching. But it must be kept in mind that nothing will be enacted quickly — if at all.

[hunter]

35. Biden is President, not Emperor.

Nor is Biden's office equivalent to the Prime Minister of a Parliamentary system.

If we had a Parliamentary system Nancy Pelosi might be a Prime Minister introducing bills in Parliament.

Our news media is full of false comparisons and appeals to ignorance crafted to stir shit. That's how thy attract viewers and sell advertising. It's also a system that can be easily manipulated by those who would be oligarchs.

[Evolve Dammit]

36. Disappointed but not surprised. I applaud Canada

[Kid Berwyn]

43. Too bad. Country would appreciate bold leadership.

Freeze handgun sales AND ban assault rifles, big clips and track — and license every rifle, pistol, gun and bullet made and sold.

In addition to saving thousands of lives, it might look good in a political ad too.

Don’t forget the Canadian style background check.

[Polybius]

47. "Freeze handgun sales"

That would be struck down in a nanosecond. Heck, if I were a judge I'd have to strike it down too.

it might look good in a political ad too.

Yeah, for the Republicans. Biden would lose 47 states.

[Kid Berwyn]

48. Really would take all three branches.

Never been one to love guns, I don’t understand the attraction.