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Biden blames GUNS for surge in crime: President announces crackdown on gun dealers and mocks Second Amendment by saying you need 'nuclear weapons' to take on the government

  President Biden warned Americans to brace for a summer of violence as this year's pandemic reopening would exaggerate the usual season...

 President Biden warned Americans to brace for a summer of violence as this year's pandemic reopening would exaggerate the usual seasonal increase in attacks as he on Wednesday laid out plans to tackle the country's 'epidemic' of violent crime

But his proposals to focus on dealers rather than criminals and his mockery for gun advocates brought a rapid backlash from Republicans who accused him of bowing to his parties radical wing.

He promised 'zero tolerance' for dealers who break the rules but also mocked Americans who believe they need firearms to protect their rights from the government.


'If you want to think you need to have weapons to take on the government, you need F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons,' he said.

He delivered his message from the White House against a surge in violence around the country.

President Biden warned that the usual summer surge in violence would be exacerbated by the country reopening after the pandemic, as he laid out steps to tackle gun crime.  He took aim at the gun lobby, saying:'No one needs to have a weapon that can fire over 30, 40, 50, even up to 100 rounds,' he said, 'unless you think the deer are wearing Kevlar vests, or something'

President Biden warned that the usual summer surge in violence would be exacerbated by the country reopening after the pandemic, as he laid out steps to tackle gun crime.  He took aim at the gun lobby, saying:'No one needs to have a weapon that can fire over 30, 40, 50, even up to 100 rounds,' he said, 'unless you think the deer are wearing Kevlar vests, or something'

President to crackdown on firearms dealers but will also let states and cities use $350 billion in COVID relief to hire more cops amid surging violent crime

President to crackdown on firearms dealers but will also let states and cities use $350 billion in COVID relief to hire more cops amid surging violent crime


Homicides rose 30 percent and shootings spiked by 8 percent in large cities last year, according to official figures.

It will only get worse this year. 

'Crime historically rises during the summer,' said Biden. 

'And as we emerge from this pandemic... the country opening back up again... the traditional summer spike may be more pronounced than it usually would be.'

Before delivering his speech he met with state leaders, mayors, a police chief and other experts to discuss the best way to make the country safer. 

It left him with a delicate balancing act, straddling calls from within his own party to 'defund the police' while heading off political critics on the right ready to accuse him of being soft on crime.

But he did not shy from tackling the gun lobby directly.

'No one needs to have a weapon that can fire over 30, 40, 50, even up to 100 rounds,' he said, 'unless you think the deer are wearing Kevlar vests, or something.' 

Biden's plan focuses on delivering money to cities that need more police and cracking down on those who sell firearms illegally.  

'These merchants of death are breaking the law for profit, he said.

'If you willfully sell a gun to someone who's prohibited, my message to you is this: We'll find you and we'll seek your license to sell guns. We'll make sure you can't sell death and mayhem on our streets.'  

In New York, shootings are up 188 percent compared to his time last year, while homicides are up by 750 percent. 

There have also been more than 230 mass shootings this year, including at a Fedex facility in Indianapolis and at massage parlors in Atlanta. Biden has addressed the nation after these shootings, calling violence 'an epidemic in America' and promising to take action. 


Biden was joined by Attorney General Merrick Garland in the State Dining room of the White House as they laid out their five pillars for tackling gun violence

Biden was joined by Attorney General Merrick Garland in the State Dining room of the White House as they laid out their five pillars for tackling gun violence

There were 50 reported shootings throughout the United States this past weekend

There were 50 reported shootings throughout the United States this past weekend

Republicans accused Biden of taking on the wrong target, focusing on gun dealers rather than criminals. Sen. Lindsey Graham said he was 'kowtowing' to his party's radical left

Republicans accused Biden of taking on the wrong target, focusing on gun dealers rather than criminals. Sen. Lindsey Graham said he was 'kowtowing' to his party's radical left

But as details of the plan emerged during the day, opponents said Biden was tackling the wrong issue.

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Biden was 'kowtowing' to the radical left.

'The Biden five point plan will not address the rise in murder and vicious assaults in this country,' he told Fox News. 

'We have a lack of prosecution and we've declared war on the police. And that is backfiring on those who have done it.'

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said the president had blamed hurricanes instead of his own policies for a border crisis, and on inflation he had blamed the coronavirus instead of his administration's spending programs. 

'And now on crime, Biden wants to blame guns and lawful gun owners instead of Democrats’ open embrace of the defund the police movement and soft-on-crime approach,' he said.    

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds said: 'I was born and raised in Brooklyn - I know what crime looks like. 

'I also know that criminals, by definition, don't follow laws. 

'The gun control policies Biden plans on outlining today are a tone-deaf & misguided solution to this problem. We need more law enforcement.' 

Others accused him of coddling criminals while targeting law-abiding gun dealers.  

Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America told the Washington Examiner: 'It is the height of hypocrisy for Joe Biden to demonize guns, gun dealers, and gun owners. 

'For the past year, the anti-gun Left looked the other way when rioters were destroying cities and murdering civilians and cops.' 

Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor accused the Biden administration and the left of 'coddling criminals'.

She tweeted on Wednesday: 'Crime is exploding in Democrat-run cities ... this is 100% the result of their left-wing policies of defunding the police, backing BLM / ANTIFA, destroying families, and coddling of criminals!'  

Biden, 78, is seeking to carefully straddle his stance as being opposed to the extreme-left 'defund the policy' movement, while offering progressives in his camp concrete measures he has pledged to reform the justice system (pictured: Biden at a White House meeting on Tuesday)

Biden, 78, is seeking to carefully straddle his stance as being opposed to the extreme-left 'defund the policy' movement, while offering progressives in his camp concrete measures he has pledged to reform the justice system (pictured: Biden at a White House meeting on Tuesday)

Displays of weapons parts are presented during the announcement of the results of an international weapons trafficking operation by the Homeland Security Investigations department

Displays of weapons parts are presented during the announcement of the results of an international weapons trafficking operation by the Homeland Security Investigations department

President Joe Biden announces crackdown on guns across the country
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He will also tell states, cities and towns seeing surges in gun violence that they can use $350 billion in COVID funding to hire more law-enforcement, even if it raises the total beyond levels from before the pandemic.

The funds set aside from the $1.9trillion American Rescue Plan can also be used to invest in new technologies and crack down on gun traffickers. 

The actions will build on executive orders signed in April, when Biden asked the Justice Department to crack down on self-assembled 'ghost guns,' senior administration officials said.  

Biden, 78, is seeking to carefully straddle divides in his party, offering progressives in his camp concrete measures to reform the justice system while avoiding the extreme left's 'defund the policy' movement.

The policy shift could make a significant difference to gun sellers. In 2020, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, carried out 6,000 inspections of gun stores and found violations in 44 percent of cases.

However, most received warnings or no penalty at all and just 136 gun shops lost their licenses.  

'This will be a historic policy that will make sure that we hold gun dealers across the country who are contributing to the supply of crime guns accountable,' the White House said. 

Biden's speech also underlined that local authorities can use Covid relief cash to pay for more police officers on the beat. 

His moves come amid growing impatience from gun-control activists that the administration has not acted more quickly to combat gun violence.

Biden campaigned on a promise that he would take action against gun violence on his first day in office but has so far announced only limited measures.

'The secondary consequences of the pandemic and the proliferation of illegal guns have led to increased violence over the past year and a half,' a senior administration official said.

Police officials around the country have said they are struggling with increasing crime and continued tensions between police and communities, and some say their calls for support aren't answered as they take the blame for the spike.

'Many of us - if not most of us - are seeing a rise in crime, while at the same time, we're hearing calls for reform,' Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said on Tuesday.

'And some of those calls are to the extreme of dismantle and defund ... while all of the same time we're sworn to protect the people.' 


The Gun Violence Archive reports that there have been 20,695 shooting deaths across the country since the year began

The Gun Violence Archive reports that there have been 20,695 shooting deaths across the country since the year began

Biden outlined how $350 billion of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package can be used by cities to hire law enforcement officers, pay overtime, prosecute gun traffickers and invest in technology to make law enforcement more efficient.

Earlier officials also said the administration hoped cities would choose to use the money for alternatives to policing and invest in community policing models.

While crime is rising - homicides and shootings are up from the same period last year in Chicago; Los Angeles; Minneapolis; Portland, Oregon; Baltimore; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Houston - violent crime overall remains lower than it was a decade ago or even five years ago.

And most violent crimes plummeted during the first six months of the coronavirus pandemic, as people stayed indoors and away from others.

Crime started creeping up last summer, a trend criminologists say is hard to define and is likely due to a variety of factors such as historic unemployment, fear over the virus and anger at stay-at-home orders. Mass shootings have also made an alarming return. 

The rise in violence comes against the backdrop of the national debate on policing and racism in policing - and as a police reform bill is being crafted in Congress. 

Police at a crime scene in New York (file photo). In New York, shootings are up 188 percent compared to his time last year, while homicides are up by 750%.

Police at a crime scene in New York (file photo). In New York, shootings are up 188 percent compared to his time last year, while homicides are up by 750%.

Portland rioters set fire to trash cans as they run down the street during demonstrations  over the police killing of Daunte Wright

Portland rioters set fire to trash cans as they run down the street during demonstrations  over the police killing of Daunte Wright 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that a presidential event focused on cracking down on crime would undermine that legislative effort.

As a senator, Biden wrote several major anti-crime packages, including a 1994 bill that contained provisions now viewed by some as an overreaction to the crime spikes in the 1980s and 1990s.

Critics say those bills helped lead to mass incarceration of black Americans, and Biden's involvement became a flashpoint in his 2020 campaign. 

Biden has expressed second thoughts about some aspects of the legislation, and he has acknowledged its harmful impact on many black Americans. 

But he and his allies still hold out the law's provisions to address domestic violence, ban assault weapons and finance community policing.

On the reform side, Biden on Wednesday is expected to push cities to use $122 billion to help keep schoolchildren busy this summer - they're often both targets and perpetrators of violence - and to expand summer hiring programs for teenagers, the officials said. Labor Department funding will be used to provide pre-apprenticeship jobs for youths and help formerly incarcerated adults and young people in 28 communities get work.

The White House also planned to convene a bipartisan meeting Wednesday of law enforcement officials, politicians, activists and prosecutors and will meet with 14 jurisdictions from around the country that have committed to using a portion of the funding for violence intervention programs.

'Yes, there need to be reforms of police systems across the country. The president is a firm believer in that,' Psaki said Tuesday. 'But there are also steps he can take as president of the United States to help address and hopefully reduce that crime. A big part of that, in his view, is putting in place gun safety measures ... using the bully pulpit but also using levers at his disposal as president.'

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