On Tuesday (March 28), in response to the deadly school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, President Joe Biden made several false claims about the Second Amendment.
Biden made his misleading statements during a scheduled stop in North Carolina, where he was scheduled to give a speech about his economic agenda and semiconductors.
But before Biden spoke about his scheduled topic, the President discussed the tragedy that occurred at the Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville.
Three students and three members of staff were killed after 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a former student, broke into the building with two “assault-type rifles” and a handgun.
Hale, who is transgender, fatally shot three 9-year-olds and three staff members before being shot and killed by responding law enforcement officers.
Biden discussed the shooting, describing the traffic incident as a family’s “worst nightmare.”
Biden recalled his own experience of losing a child, mentioning how one of his kids died in an accident and another of cancer, noting that nothing could prepare a parent for such a tragic event.
The President, a self-described Second Amendment guy, then declared the weapons used on Monday were “weapons of war,” adding that the right to bear arms had limits.
Biden asserted that the families of the three 9-year-olds deserved more than prayers “to stop this gun violence that is ripping communities apart.”
He added that children should be learning to read and write in school rather than learning to duck and cover under their desks.
Biden then explained that Americans are not “allowed to own” automatic weapons, machine guns, and flamethrowers.
The President then noted how many other things couldn’t be owned, yet “these weapons of war” were still allowed on “our streets and in our public schools.”
Biden’s statements were partially true, as the law does restrict owning machine guns, except for certain exceptions.
There also isn’t a law banning flamethrowers.
