President Joe Biden mocked Second Amendment supporters on Tuesday by saying they need fighter jets — not AR-15 rifles — to challenge the government.
While speaking at a campaign event in California, Biden addressed gun violence and pushed numerous false claims.
First, Biden claimed the National Rifle Association wields "overwhelming power" and "is the only outfit in the nation that we cannot sue as an institution." This, of course, is not true. There is an active lawsuit in New York against the NRA that a judge has ruled can proceed.
Next, Biden claimed the Second Amendment explicit does not state that you can "own any weapon you want."
"There’s a lot of things we can change because the American people by and large agree you don't need a weapon of war. I’m a Second Amendment guy. I taught it six years in law school. And guess what? It doesn’t say that you can own any weapon you want. It says there are certain weapons that you just can’t own. Even during when it was passed, you couldn’t own a cannon," Biden said.
However, the text of the Second Amendment does not explicitly prohibit the ownership of any weapons. It states:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Moreover, it's not true that Americans were prohibited from owning cannons. Biden has been repeatedly fact-checked on the claim, which is downright false.
"We have no idea where he conjured up this notion about a ban on cannon ownership in the early days of the Republic, but he needs to stop making this claim," wrote Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler.
Finally, Biden responded to the argument that Second Amendment advocates make: A populace without arms is subjected to government tyranny. But according to Biden, your guns don't matter — because the government has fighter jets.
"Well, if you want to do that, you want to work against the government, you need an F-16. You need something else than just an AR-15," Biden sneered.
Biden used the same argument in January – that Americans would need fighter jets or nuclear weapons to challenge the U.S. government — to push gun control.
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An F-16 fighter jet deployed to intercept an unidentified flying object over Lake Huron on Sunday reportedly fired not one, but two missiles before striking the object.
"The first Sidewinder heat-seeking missile missed the target," a government official told Fox News.
On Tuesday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley confirmed what Fox News reported. "Yes, the first shot missed," he said.
The admission was particularly concerning because initial reports claimed that military officials were not sure where the missile ultimately landed. But Milley told reporters on Tuesday the errant missile "landed harmlessly in the water of Lake Huron" and has been recovered.
It's not clear why the government did not immediately disclose the missed shot.
"We made sure that airspace was clear of any commercial civilian or recreational traffic. We do the same thing for the maritime space, so we’re very, very deliberate in our planning," Milley said. "We’re very, very careful to make sure that those shots are in fact safe."
The AIM-9x Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, short-range air-to-air missile. The missiles cost about $400,000 each.
The Lake Huron object was the third unidentified object intercepted by American military forces in as many days. On Friday, fighter jets were scrambled to shoot down an object over Alaska, and on Saturday, U.S. pilots downed an object over Canada.
More from the New York Times:
The latest object had first been spotted on Saturday over Montana, initially sparking debate over whether it even existed. On Saturday, military officials detected a radar blip over Montana, which then disappeared, leading them to conclude it was an anomaly. Then a blip appeared Sunday over Montana, then Wisconsin and Michigan. Once military officials obtained visual confirmation, they ordered an F-16 to shoot it down over Lake Huron.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday that recovery operations are underway to retrieve debris from the downed objects. However, no debris has yet been discovered, he said. The government, therefore, apparently remains in the dark as to what was shot down.
Still, Milley vowed the object debris would be recovered. The process was delayed, he said, because all three objects crashed into "very difficult terrain."
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