Gun Ownership Makes You Unfit For Gun Ownership

Biden essentially summed up the Democratic view on guns for 2008. To laughter and applause he argued that owning a gun is an admission of a mental imbalance and that mentally ill folks should be prohibited from owning weapons.

That's right, if you want to keep your guns you are mentally ill and therefore you should be prohibited from having guns. You can't make this stuff up.

Here's the YouTube clip (hat tip to Adam's post on IP.com):



From the debate transcript:

QUESTION: Good evening, America. My name is Jered Townsend from Clio, Michigan.

To all the candidates, tell me your position on gun control, as myself and other Americans really want to know if our babies are safe.

This is my baby, purchased under the 1994 gun ban. Please tell me your views.

Thank you.

COOPER: Governor Richardson, you have one of the highest NRA ratings.

RICHARDSON: The issue here, I believe, is instant background checks.

RICHARDSON: Nobody who has a criminal background or is mentally ill should be able to get a weapon. That is the key, and that includes gun sales. That includes gun sales at gun shows.

The key is going to be also attacking poverty, bringing people together, dealing with those kids in the ghettos that are heavy users of gun violence and they are victims of gun violence, to make sure that this country attacks the core problems of poverty, having child care, bringing parents together.

COOPER: Senator Biden, are you going to be able to keep his baby safe?

BIDEN: I'll tell you what, if that is his baby, he needs help.

(APPLAUSE)

I think he just made an admission against self-interest. I don't know that he is mentally qualified to own that gun. I'm being serious. Look, just like me, we go around talking about people who own guns. I am the guy who originally wrote the assault weapons ban, that became law, and then we got defeated and then Dianne Feinstein went to town on it and did a great job.

BIDEN: Look, we should be working with law enforcement, right now, to make sure that we protect people against people who don't -- are not capable of knowing what to do with a gun because they're either mentally imbalanced and/or because they have a criminal record, and...

COOPER: Time.

BIDEN: Anyway...

(APPLAUSE)

COOPER: We got one more question. Before...

BIDEN: ... I hope he doesn't come looking for me.

(LAUGHTER)

To applause and laughter the democrats assault the Bill of Rights on national television.

And what did the highest NRA rated democrats say about Biden's gun control views afterwards?

RICHARDSON: Joe Biden -- you know, the only negative thing about Joe. We disagree on Iraq very strongly, on Darfur. But this man has devoted his whole life to public service. He's been a distinguished chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's had great contributions in civil rights, in issues relating to gun control, in Supreme Court nominees. He will make an excellent secretary of state for me.

That's right. The highest NRA rated democrat up there compliments the guy who basically called gun ownership a disqualifying mental illness for gun ownership.

And they wonder why gun owners get nervous about letting Democrats win office.

This probably wouldn't make gun owners as nervous if it wasn't for State and federal laws being loosened to make it easier for gun owners to be declared mentally unfit to own firearms without due process. Instead of requiring a court to decide, any medical professional who agrees with Joe that simply being a gun owner makes one a mentally ill danger to society can help prohibit you from owning one for the rest of your life. Given the applause, he hardly seems alone in that view.

For my concerns on the latest Illinois bill on mental disqualifiers: Nuts with Guns vs Gun Nuts

Gun Owners of America has a compilation of problems with the federal bill I mentioned in a follow up post to that article here: Point-by-Point Response To Proponents Of HR 2640

Biden picked a pretty unsettling time to make statements like this given the current legislation on mental health and guns. I was a bit upset that they didn't get any of the front runners on the record on this one though. Not that I'd expect any pro-gun views from them, but it'd probably be good for the American public to know where they stand (or cower as it were).