Democratic Party Presidential Candidate Joe Biden, has this week echoed previous calls made by him during the Democratic Primary Elections, that he intends to ban assault weapons if he is elected to the Oval Office this November.
In Donald Trump style, he announced his commitment to the banning of assault rifles on Twitter.
And while many will support this generic statement, there will be many who see this as an infringement on their second amendment rights. That's the danger with sending out a generic tweet, rather than a detailed, comprehensive policy document.
What defines an assault weapon, and what defines a high-capacity magazine? An assault weapon could be defined as a semi-automatic rifle, high capacity could be interpreted as anything over ten round, yet the former Vice President has not clarified what his own definition of these terms are.
In theory every weapon can be an assault weapon depending on the circumstance, or equally not an assualt weapon. Again in theory, an RPG rocket launcher or an M4 fully automatic rifle may equally be an assualt weapon or a defensive weapon, depending on how it is used.
I think most people would interpret this generic debate starter as meaning AR-15s and magazines that hold over thirty rounds, but what's important is how the long-time anti-gun Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris, interpret these definitions, afterall they may be the ones writing this law next year.
While some argue that Biden is only saying this as a sound bite, there are serious implications from this tweet, depending on how you interpret it.
It's also not a smart election tactic, as this tweet leaves him vulnerable to accusations of being anti-gun. While the majority of Americans would support how I defined assault weapon and high capacity magazine, that doesn't really matter for Biden.
US citizens with anti-gun views are, generically speaking, more likely to vote Democrat, more likely to live in urban areas, and more likely to live in safe Blue States like California, Illinois, and New York. So while this was a good tactic to use during the Democratic Primary, it's a terrible strategy for a Presidential Election, in which Biden is dependent on less populated states like Minnesota, and traditional Red States like Arizona and Texas.
Biden may have bolstered more support from this tweet from people who were already going to vote for him, and also perhaps garnered so Green Party voters and independent liberals, but he may have cost himself the Electoral College votes of Arizona, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.
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