On Monday (January 16), President Joe Biden took a swipe at gun rights activists, claiming those who assert they need assault weapons to fend off the U.S. government would need a much bigger arsenal.
Biden made his remarks at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast hosted by the National Action Network in Washington, D.C.
The President asserted that he loves those on the right who reference a quote about the tree of liberty being watered by the blood of patriots but insisted if citizens wanted to arm themselves against the “federal government, you need some F-15s. You don’t need an AR-15.”
The quote Biden references comes from a letter Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, writes to William Smith, in which the former declares, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Biden then called on audience members to “think about” the rationale that an AR-15 would protect Americans from the federal government. He asserted, “It’s about money,” before claiming that assault-style weapons do not have “social redeeming value.”
This isn’t the first time Biden’s stated gun rights activists would need more than AR-15s to take on the federal government.
In July 2021, during a speech outlining how he’d tackle gun violence, the President stated that to take on the federal government, gun rights activists would need “F-15s and maybe some nuclear weapons.”
At the time, Biden also made false statements about the Second Amendment, claiming when it was written, there were always limitations on who could own a weapon and the kind of weapon they could own.
Yet, federal gun regulation, which limits weapon ownership, was only passed in 1934.
