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Biden says 'no rational basis' for 9mm pistols, trolls say 'give secret service slingshots'

President Biden made a remark about 9mm handguns, appearing to suggest that the 'high-caliber weapons' ought to be banned

President Joe Biden returned from a visit to the site of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas and spoke to reporters on the aftermath of the deadly massacre at the Robb Elementary School. The president may have committed another gaffe when he appeared to confuse the different types of bullets used by semiautomatic handguns and military-style assault rifles.

In a gun-related gaffe Biden claimed that 9mm guns are "high caliber weapons" that can blow a person's lung out of their body. Recalling a visit to a New York trauma hospital, Biden said doctors showed him X-rays of gunshot wounds, and "They said a .22-caliber bullet will lodge in the lung, and we can probably get it out — may be able to get it and save the life. A 9mm bullet blows the lung out of the body," Biden said. "So, the idea of these high-caliber weapons is, uh, there’s simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection, hunting," Biden added. "Remember, the constitution was never absolute." "You couldn’t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed," Biden said. "You couldn’t go out and purchase a lot of weaponry." Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old armed with an AR-15 rifle killed 19 children and two teachers at the Uvalde elementary school reigniting a political debate about how the country should act to prevent similar future tragedies.

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Robby Starbuck, a congressional candidate shared Biden's video and wrote, "A 9MM bullet blows the lung out of the body" has to be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Joe Biden is an imbecile. Why do the people who know the least about guns want to yap their gums the most about guns? What part of "Shall NOT be infringed" do they not get?"

"Joe Biden admitted today that he wants to ban the most popular handgun in America. Sorry communist @JoeBiden but SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED is VERY clear! We aren’t giving you our guns!", he added. "They invent these horror stories to help sell their gun grabs", Jim Hanson, Executive Director of America Matters, replied.

The Washington Times writes, that rounds of 9mm ammunition typically are used in handguns; most rifles use different rounds. The AR-15 fires a .223-caliber or 5.56x45mm bullet.

While several reports online speak of Biden calling for a ban on these guns, it is far from what he said. In his remarks, Biden also appeared to rule out the possibility of taking major executive action on guns, saying: “I can’t dictate this stuff. I can do the things I’ve done and any executive action I can take, I’ll continue to take. But I can’t outlaw a weapon. I can’t, you know, change the background checks. I can’t do that.”

Biden’s comments came fewer than 48 hours after Vice President Kamala Harris called for an assault weapons ban after attending a funeral for Buffalo shooting victim Ruth Whitfield, 86. “You know what an assault weapon is? You know how an assault weapon was designed?” Harris said Saturday, May 28. “It was designed for a specific purpose – to kill a lot of human beings quickly. An assault weapon is a weapon of war with no place, no place in a civil society.”

This is not the first time Biden has come after 9mm pistols, a week after he told voters that the Second Amendment doesn’t protect “a magazine with a hundred clips in it,” Biden when he was a presidential candidate in 2020 reportedly spoke about the 9mm pistols. While Biden’s statement did call out guns that use 9 mm ammunition, he referred to the high-capacity magazines that sometimes come standard, or are added onto, those types of guns. A pistol, according to federal regulations, is a handgun that has its chamber integrated with the barrel.

Many people felt Biden asked for the banning of 9mm weapons as an infringement on Americans' constitutional rights and began to troll him. A user wrote, "WTAF? That's the most butt-frakingly stupid statement from him in a while, and he says a LOT of stupid things! A 9mm bullet will just make a small hole."

The 9mm round is the most popular handgun caliber in the United States, accounting for well over half of all handguns produced in 2019, according to Shooting Industry magazine. The data showed that throughout the 2010s, 9mm pistols made up more than 40% of all pistols produced in the United States – or roughly four in every ten pistols. In 2020, ABC News reported that "The United States Secret Service is moving forward with plans to outfit its agents with Glock 9 millimeter (mm) pistols to replace the agency's existing Sig Sauer .357-caliber duty weapons." The fact was not lost on social media who trolled Biden asking him about his own security service. "Ok he can start by having his secret service giving up theirs," said one social media user. Another asked, "Well what caliber pistol does the secret service use to protect him?" A third suggested he "give secret service slingshots."