President Joe Biden and Guns – Gun Tests

You’ll recall that in the October 2020 issue, I cut-and-pasted almost all of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden’s gun-regulation plans listed on his website, with the points running under the rubric of “The Biden Plan To End Our Gun Violence Epidemic.” Now, with President Joe Biden sworn in and signing dozens of Executive Orders in his first week, I have no doubt that Gun Tests readers who enjoy firearms are going to get new gun-purchase, gun-possession, ammo-purchase, and many other regulations very soon. The only question is, where will President Biden start?

The not-well-known Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), a super-vigilant pro-guns group based in California, thinks the first attack on our 2nd Amendment rights might come from an unexpected angle.

In a January 11, 2021 blog post, FPC said, “According to Joe Biden’s gun control plan, ‘we have the technology to allow only authorized users to fire a gun.’ Sure we do, theoretically, but none of those firearms are currently being mass-manufactured. According to Biden, the reason why these guns aren’t being mass-produced is because ‘the NRA and gun manufacturers are bullying firearms dealers who try to sell these guns.’ Biden’s plan is to ‘issue a call to action for gun manufacturers, dealers, and other public and private entities to take steps to accelerate our transition to smart guns,’ with Biden’s goal being a 100% conversion of all firearms sales to smart-gun sales.”

FPC continued, “Smart gun locks rely on basic electronics like RFID, fingerprint recognition, and magnetic locks. There are numerous ways to interfere with this technology. For example, $15 worth of magnets can be used to bypass some smart guns, while others can have their safety-disengagement mechanisms blocked by bad guys and eventually, government agents, disarming the owner by rendering the gun useless.

“Then there is also the cost,” FPC said. “One of the most prominent smart guns is the Armatix iP1, clocked in with a price tag of $1,798 to $1,399 for the pistol and $399 for the required watch. The iP1 is more than three times more expensive than the ubiquitous Glock 17 (starting at $499). If individuals were all compelled to switch to this technology, it would prevent working-class people from being able to buy a firearm.”

Perhaps FPC is correct, perhaps not. But dictating smart-gun regs are as bad a place as any to start. Smart-gun locking technology is easily defeated, the tech can be weaponized against owners (that is, turned off remotely because LE would always have a back door or kill switch, however you want to look at it), and is priced so that working-class people cannot purchase a high-tech high-cost firearm for self-defense.

President Joe “fire two blasts outside the house” Biden has a long history of anti-gun-rights statements and policies, and he will be unconstrained in passing them with the Democrats in control of both houses of Congress. Current gun owners and prospective new gun owners are about to get at least two years of bad news. Maybe four. Heck, maybe eight.

What do you think will be the first salvo fired at our 2A rights? Let me hear your thoughts here.