Despite its slim chances of passage in the Senate, Vice President Joe Biden has not given up on a ban on assault weapons, he told National Public Radio in an interview that aired Wednesday.
“I am still pushing that it pass,” Biden said, according to NPR’s transcript. “We are still pushing that it pass. The same thing was told to me when the first assault weapons ban in 1994 was attached to the Biden Crime bill; that it couldn’t possibly pass. It was declared dead several times. I believe that the vast majority of the American people agree with us. The vast majority of gun owners agree with us. That military-style assault weapons are – these are weapons of war. They don’t belong in the street, and the recent decision declaring the right of someone to own a weapon in their home for self-protection, Justice [Antonin] Scalia acknowledged that you can constitutionally banned certain type of weapons. And, so, I haven’t given up on this.”
NPR’s Melissa Block pressed Biden that the proposal doesn’t appear to have the necessary votes in the Senate.
“Well, again. I have never found that it makes any sense to support something and declare that there is no possibility of it passing,” Biden said. “There is a lot happening. Attitudes are changing, and I think the president and I are going to continue to push and we haven’t given up on it.”
Full interview here.
