By Cody J. Wisniewski
Even as he lives under constant armed protection, President Biden is open about his desire to take away Americans’ most effective means of protecting their own lives.
Biden even joked about it recently, mocking ordinary citizens’ ownership of certain firearm magazines: “What—do you think the deer you’re hunting wear Kevlar vests? What the hell you need 20 bullets for? You must be a hell of a terrible shot.”
Here’s a better question: Who is Joe Biden to dictate how peaceable Americans will defend their lives and loved ones?
Your self-defense choices are yours to make, not the President’s nor any politician’s.
And while President Biden may be ignorant on the matter, countless Americans know exactly what is at stake. Instead of mocking the people’s exercise of a natural right, Biden and his fellow gun controllers should read some horrifying real-life stories and find out what a 20-round magazine is used for.
Running out of ammunition at the wrong moment is more than a nightmare: it could mean death at the hands of an intruder. Magazines are a critical tool for surviving some of the worst situations imaginable — situations that occur all too often, in a nation where murder rates are rising and hundreds of thousands of violent home invasions occur each year.
In a life-or-death emergency, ordinary citizens may well be forced into a prolonged exchange of fire with violent criminals. Sometimes more than one. A pause to reload or change weapons can prove fatal for them or their loved ones. That’s why millions of firearm magazines with more than a 10-round capacity are owned by peaceable Americans, in the vast majority of states.
Americans have a long history with these magazines, and it’s simply false to argue—as some gun control advocates do—that our Founders and Framers couldn’t imagine them and did not mean to protect them under the Second Amendment. Such magazines were in use well before the founding of our nation.
In fact, firearms capable of firing more than 10 rounds without reloading have existed since at least the 1500s. In 1777, over a decade before adoption of the Bill of Rights, Joseph Belton demonstrated a repeating rifle able to hold 16 rounds to members of the Continental Congress.
Today, such magazines are so popular and widely owned that they’re standard capacity. Branding them as “high-capacity magazines” is a scare tactic, meant to stigmatize constitutionally protected arms by falsely associating them with warfare or mass shootings.
Unfortunately, on both the national and the local level, this misleading rhetoric has become widespread. From the president on down, it’s echoed by officials who think it’s their job to decide how many rounds you need to defend your life, your family, and your community.
Even in the wake of recent mass shootings, Congress isn’t about to pass the President’s full gun control agenda. In the state of Washington, however, Biden’s disarmament dreams for the nation are alive and well.
With the passage of SB 5078, Washington recently banned the sale, import, distribution, and manufacture of firearm magazines able to hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
Of course, this ban won’t stop criminals from acquiring these magazines if they want them. Murderous home invaders couldn’t care less about breaking Washington’s bureaucratic gun laws.
Even if violent criminals are effectively prevented from obtaining the banned magazines, they can easily compensate by bringing more guns or more accomplices to outnumber a victim — since it is criminals, and not their victims, who choose the time and place of an attack.
But with their self-defense choices limited, everyday Washingtonians will pay the price, losing their constitutionally protected natural rights and possibly their lives.
That’s why several residents have stepped forward to sue the state of Washington over its magazine ban, represented by Mountain States Legal Foundation’s Center to Keep and Bear Arms.
Among those suing Washington are Ellie Sullivan, a nurse and longtime Washington resident alarmed by deteriorating safety conditions. So is Rainier Arms founder John Hwang, committed to ensuring that individuals are well-equipped in the face of danger.
Although this law is specific to Washington, this issue isn’t. Nine other states have similar bans on so-called “high-capacity” magazines, and more will follow if this trend is not stopped in its tracks.
As anti-gun activists continue their disgusting political exploitation of mass shootings, there will no doubt be further demonization of these devices. With President Biden and his fellow gun controllers eager for an eventual nationwide ban, the outcome in Washington state will have national implications.
Your life shouldn’t depend on your ability to reload a weapon on the worst day of your life. While the President — with his Secret Service protection — inanely repeats his line about deer in Kevlar, the American people know what they need to survive in a crisis. Their right to choose the right magazine for themselves shall not be infringed.
Cody J. Wisniewski (@TheWizardofLawz) is the director of Mountain States Legal Foundation’s Center to Keep and Bear Arms. He primarily focuses on Second Amendment issues but is happy so long as he is reminding the government of its enumerated powers and constitutional restrictions.
To learn more about the Center to Keep and Bear Arms’ work and support their fight for your natural right to self-defense—from both man and tyranny—visit www.mslegal.org/2A and donate today!
