The woman who asked the standout question at this week’s Parents Magazine online town hall about gun violence went on Fox News Friday to accuse Vice President Biden of mansplaining when it comes to self-defense.
At the online town hall Tuesday, Kate Ernest asked this question of Biden: “Do you believe that banning certain weapons and high capacity magazines will mean that law-abiding citizens will then become more of a target to criminals as we will have no way to sufficiently protect ourselves?”
Biden chuckled, wondered aloud if Ernest was actually a Parents reader, and responded with his oft-repeated line that shotguns, not so-called assault rifles, are the right weapon for home defense. Biden said he’s told his wife to grab one of the family’s two shot guns at the first sign of trouble.
“As I told my wife — we live in an area that’s wooded and somewhat secluded — I said, ‘Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony, put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,'” Biden said. “I promise you whoseever [sic] coming in is not gonna — you don’t need an AR-15. It’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use, and in fact you don’t need 30 rounds to protect yourself. Buy a shotgun.”
Ernest told Fox she didn’t care for Biden’s home defense scheme (she said using a double-barrel shotgun would leave her defenseless after two shots) and she accused him of sexism.
“I think it was poor advice and it comes off a little sexist,” she said. “Like, ‘let me tell you what you need’ versus, you know, ‘arm yourself or protect yourself in a way that you feel necessary.”
This isn’t the first time Biden’s “get a shotgun” advice during the Parents Magazine forum has caused trouble for the Vice President. US News reported Wednesday that if Jill Biden followed her husband’s advice with the double-barrel shotgun, she’d be breaking Delaware law.
Update:
Biden referred to questions like Ernest’s in his Connecticut gun violence speech Thursday, once again rejecting the contention that assault weapons need to stay on the market for home protection.
“So every one of these chats I do on the Internet, every one of these things I do on Facebook, it’s amazing some of the questions that seep in. They say, ‘all you’re going to do, Biden — you and the President, you’re going to deny law-abiding citizens their rights under the Second Amendment.’ Not true,” Biden said in Connecticut. “They assault weapons — they say assault weapons like the AR-15 are needed for self-protection and recreation. They are not. There’s plenty of ways you can protect yourself and recreate without an AR-15.”
Here’s Biden’s Connecticut speech:
