Joe Biden’s Proposals Include Incentivizing States to License Would-Be Gun Owners

Democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden’s proposals for firearms include a push to incentivize states to license would-be gun owners.

Biden’s campaign website says, “Biden will enact legislation to give states and local governments grants to require individuals to obtain a license prior to purchasing a gun.”

His website does not explain if a Biden administration would pursue a licensing procedure resembling Illinois’ Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card, New Jersey’s Firearms Purchaser Identification Card, or some other type of license. But the policy sets forth support for the attainment of some type of license in order to purchase a gun.

Other gun proposals put forth by Biden include:

1. A provision that could require every AR-15 rifle to be registered under the National Firearms Act of 1934. Unless there was some form of carve-out, this could mandate that American gun owners pay a $200 federal tax per AR-15 that they own. The National Rifle Association’s Andrew Arulanandam told Breitbart News that the current “low end” estimate of privately-owned AR-15s in the United States is 18 million. A tax of $200 on 18 million AR-15s means that gun owners could potentially be required to pay a collective $3.6 billion in taxes if this policy were enacted into legislation.
2. A provision that could require Americans to sell back their so-called “high-capacity magazines” to the government or be registered under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA). The latter, unless there was some form of carve-out, could mandate that American gun owners pay a $200 federal tax for every high-capacity magazine they currently own.
3. A provision that could ban online sales of ammunition, guns, and gun parts.
4. A pledge to revive the Social Security gun ban, which targeted benefit recipients who needed help managing their finances. The ban was adopted during the last full month of the Obama presidency and repealed during the first full month of the Trump presidency.
5. A provision that would limit Americans a one-gun-a-month purchase maximum. The Biden campaign website says, “Biden supports legislation restricting the number of firearms an individual may purchase per month to one.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.