President Joe Biden “does not support a ban on all handguns” but does support a ban on the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines as well as expanded background checks, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.
Jean-Pierre made the comments in response to questions from reporters regarding whether or not the president would support legislation similar to that of Canada that would make it impossible to buy, sell, transfer, or import handguns anywhere in that country.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday introduced legislation that would implement a “national freeze” on handgun owners and propose stricter sentences for gun smugglers and traffickers.
Jean-Pierre said Biden believes that “the United States needs to act,” and that he”supports a ban on sales of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and expanded background checks to keep guns out of dangerous hands,” but “not support a ban on the sale of all handguns.”
Jean-Pierre’s answer also comes a day after Biden suggested he wanted to ban 9mm handguns in remarks to reporters at the White House’s South Lawn.
As he visited Texas over the weekend, officials “showed me an x-ray … he said, ‘a 22-caliber bullet will lodge in a lung and we can probably get it out … and maybe save a life. A 9mm bullet, blows the lung out of the body,’” Biden said.
“So the idea that these high caliber weapons—there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection, hunting–and remember, the Constitution, the Second Amendment was never absolute,” he said.
It’s not clear why Biden was making reference to 9mm ammunition, which is primarily used in handguns, not rifles—or if he was confused with another cartridge caliber.
