The national debate is now firmly focused on gun controls following the Uvalde mass shooting, TX. Joe Biden has also joined the fray. He made a ridiculously, falsehood-filled speech in the immediate aftermath, once again revising his mind-numbing “deer in kevlar” quip.
Biden spoke up on Memorial Day to journalists and stepped up the rhetoric. As RedState reported, he didn’t just talk about confiscating AR-15s, a completely unworkable, ineffective means of addressing mass shootings. Instead, he decided to rant about…9mm ammunition?
“The 9mm gun blows out the lung from the body.” – President Joe Biden
Do fact checkers flag this comment as misinformation or not? pic.twitter.com/fFPPf7Cv44
— David Hookstead (@dhookstead) May 30, 2022
Biden’s full quote on .22 vs 9mm ammo:
The.22 caliber bullet can lodge in your lungs, and you will be able to get it out. A 9 mm bullet can blow out the lung. There is no reason to use a high caliber weapon for self-defense or hunting.
— Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) May 30, 2022
Nick Arama (my colleague) pointed out that the 9mm cartridge, which is used in almost uncountable numbers of pistols, and in pistol-caliber carbines, is one of the most widely-used in the world. The 9mm cartridge is well-known for having a manageable recoil and good ballistics. It also has decent stopping power.
To be precise, however, this cartridge isn’t the best pistol cartridge. There’s a reason the US military used .45 ACP for decades as a standard issue in sidearms. Past that, you’ve got various magnum-caliber cartridges all the way up to .50 AE. It’s not all about pure size either. FN 5.7, a tiny caliber that travels extremely fast and is designed to destroy body armor, can be used as a countermeasure. You could go on.
The point is that it’s incredibly nonsensical for Biden to come and start rambling about 9mm rounds as if they are anything more than the standard fare for firearm ammunition. As to his assertion that it “blows the lung out of the body,” that’s just blatantly false. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to be shot by any type of bullet, but a 9mm is way down on the list in terms of pure lethality.
Moving past that, Biden’s suggestion that all you need is a .22 for self-defense is so ignorant that it’d make more sense if he were just lying for effect. In this case, though, I actually believe he’s just that stupid.
Whatever you call it, a.22 is terrible for self-defense. A.22 pistol lacks the mass and ballistics necessary to defend against an aggressive attacker. The only reason you’d ever carry a .22 pistol for self-defense is if you are physically unable to rack the slide on a 9mm (i.e., my wife). There is not a single government official who is carrying a gun for protection of one’s self or another that is chambered in .22. None of Biden’s Secret Service detail uses the round, again, because it’s just not good for self-defense.
The President of the United States suggests that people shouldn’t be allowed to own 9mm guns and should use a.22 instead. That’s one of the most asinine, ignorant things about guns I’ve ever heard a president say, and that’s saying something.
He is an invalid. If he’s not lying, he’s showing that he’s just a complete idiot. This is not the kind of person whom you can engage in good faith in regards to guns, and Republicans shouldn’t try. Do not give these people an inch, because they don’t plan to stop until you actually can’t shoot anything but a .22.