The Corner

FLASHBACK: Biden: ‘Buy a Shotgun’

By

As part of the White House’s push for an assault-weapons ban following last year’s Newtown, Conn., shooting, vice president Joe Biden told Americans that a a shotgun — the weapon used by accused Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis — is a safer alternative to an AR-15.

In February during a Facebook town hall with Parents magazine, Biden recommended the weapon to a mother concerned about protecting her children, recounting how he told his wife to take the family’s shotgun and fire it into the air if she ever felt threatened. “Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun,” he urged.

Comments

A month before, in a separate Google Plus Hangout, Biden said that people will feel “a lot safer” with a shotgun because they are more accurate and easier to use.

Following yesterday’s shooting, some media outlets initially reported that Alexis was armed with an AR-15. CNN’s Pamela Brown reported earlier today that FBI’s Washington, D.C. office said Alexis did not have an AR-15, however, but used a shotgun.

Comments

return-icon Return to The Corner

Most Popular

Law & the Courts

The Worst Police Shooting Yet

By
It is hard to think of a more tragic, more senseless shooting in America than the killing last week of Botham Shem Jean, a young black risk-assurance associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a member of Dallas West Church of Christ. This is what we know so far. Jean was home alone in his apartment in the South ... Read More
Politics & Policy

The Mueller Charade

By
The almost unnoticed fact in the latest Democratic assault on the Trump administration is that it is based entirely on charges of confusion, the circus, incoherence, and nastiness. These themes never have to be hammered very long before the faithful take up the incantation about impeachment, but these aren’t ... Read More
U.S.

Why I Changed the Way I Write about Police Shootings

By
Yesterday I wrote a piece that’s gone viral — an extended denunciation of a terrible police shooting in Texas. A white officer went to black man’s apartment, apparently thinking it was her own. When she saw the man in the darkness, she claimed she thought he was a burglar. She shot him and killed him. ... Read More
Law & the Courts

End Qualified Immunity

By
I’m going to start with a story that will break your heart. In the early morning hours of July 15, 2012, a young man named Andrew Scott was up late, home with his girlfriend. They were playing video games when they heard a loud pounding on the door. Alarmed, Scott grabbed a pistol and opened the door. He saw a ... Read More
Economy & Business

A Misunderstood Case of Poverty

By
I often am perplexed by the ways in which we try to put poverty into a social and economic context. For example, once a year or so, the newspapers will be full of stories about a study concluding that a minimum-wage worker cannot afford the rent on a two-bedroom apartment in any American city. Dig in just a ... Read More