BELLEVUE, WA – President Joe Biden took less than a minute during remarks in Maryland at a Democratic National Committee Grassroots rally to break his pledge to unify the country by doubling down on his promise to ban so-called “assault weapons” if Democrats retain control of Congress.

“That’s tantamount to declaring war on millions of American gun owners,” said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. “Instead of promising to crack down on violent criminals, he once again demonized a type of firearm and the law-abiding citizens who own them. Threatening to take the property of honest Americans in lieu of locking up killers and crazy people is not the way to unify a nation, unless his goal is to unite the nation’s 100 million gun owners against him and Democrats everywhere.”

During his remarks in Maryland, Biden told his audience, “I’m determined to ban assault weapons in this country. I did it once before and we will do it again.” He followed that up with a weekend tweet in which he stated, “If we elect more Democrats to the Senate and keep the House Democratic, imagine the possibilities…We’ll ban assault weapons, saving countless lives.”

“These are not the remarks of a chief executive determined to bring people together,” Gottlieb observed. “They are the comments of a demagogue interested only in keeping his party in power so he can criminalize a third of the population whose only offense is that they exercise a right clearly spelled out in, and protected by, the Second Amendment of our Constitution and affirmed by three Supreme Court rulings since 2008. 

“Biden is clearly signaling his complete disregard for the votes of tens of millions of gun owners two months before the midterm elections,” Gottlieb added. “That cavalier indifference is likely to bring gun owners to the polls in huge numbers, and they will not be voting to prolong his gun prohibition agenda. His open contempt for the Second Amendment could backfire worse than even he could imagine.”