Biden: 'You don't need an AR-15' when a shotgun will do
WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Americans don't need semi-automatic weapons to protect their homes because a couple of blasts from a shotgun will scare off intruders.
"Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun," the vice president encouraged those worried about defending themselves. He was speaking in an online video as part of a Facebook town hall hosted by Parents Magazine on the administration's strategy for reducing gun violence, which he has led at the direction of President Barack Obama.
Biden said he keeps two shotguns and shells locked up at home and he's told his wife, Jill, to use them if she needs protection. He presumably was speaking about before he became vice president, a position that gives the couple full-time Secret Service protection.
"I said, 'Jill, if there's ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony ... take that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,'" Biden said. "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."
Biden's answer came in response to a question posted by a Facebook user about whether the administration's proposal to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines would make law-abiding citizens more of a target of criminals since they wouldn't have a sufficient way of protecting themselves. Biden bristled at the question, saying he's never heard such sentiments in the pages of Parents Magazine.
"But I'm delighted to answer them," he added quickly.
Biden said he learned his lessons on gun safety from his father, who was a hunter. He said as a child, he wasn't even allowed to point a cap gun at other children while playing cops and robbers. He said most gun owners are very responsible, but parents should make sure guns are locked up to keep children safe, just like pool gates and liquor cabinets.
He also said he doesn't think the Second Amendment's right to bear arms should be changed. He said limits on the use of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines is compatible with that right.
"Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun," the vice president encouraged those worried about defending themselves. He was speaking in an online video as part of a Facebook town hall hosted by Parents Magazine on the administration's strategy for reducing gun violence, which he has led at the direction of President Barack Obama.
Biden said he keeps two shotguns and shells locked up at home and he's told his wife, Jill, to use them if she needs protection. He presumably was speaking about before he became vice president, a position that gives the couple full-time Secret Service protection.
"I said, 'Jill, if there's ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony ... take that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,'" Biden said. "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."
Biden's answer came in response to a question posted by a Facebook user about whether the administration's proposal to ban military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines would make law-abiding citizens more of a target of criminals since they wouldn't have a sufficient way of protecting themselves. Biden bristled at the question, saying he's never heard such sentiments in the pages of Parents Magazine.
"But I'm delighted to answer them," he added quickly.
Biden said he learned his lessons on gun safety from his father, who was a hunter. He said as a child, he wasn't even allowed to point a cap gun at other children while playing cops and robbers. He said most gun owners are very responsible, but parents should make sure guns are locked up to keep children safe, just like pool gates and liquor cabinets.
He also said he doesn't think the Second Amendment's right to bear arms should be changed. He said limits on the use of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines is compatible with that right.
Just don't take Cupids bow and arrows away Joe.
I wonder if Biden learned how to use a shot gun from Dick Cheney
So, Joe's advice to his wife is to grab a double barrel shotgun, discharge both rounds outside, (effectively disarming herself immediately,) and *poof* danger is neutralized! Â
I agree that a shotgun is a great in-home safety weapon, but mine is a semi-auto.
Uncle Joe is a moron. Until he can show me his NRA Firearms Instructor certification, he just needs to shut his blow hole on this subject.
Joe is using the "make noise and the threat will go away" philosophy, which, most of the time should work. However, if it doesn't, his wife has one round from a gun that produces aim-altering amounts of recoil.
AR's don't kick and you have a backup plan, nineteen rounds of backup plan, if more than noise is required.
True, however each has it's own purpose in mind. An AR is more accurate, faster and has longer range. It is a single bullet smaller than 1/4" in diameter and will put a pinhole in your front door or whatever else you want to hit. You have to be dead on your target if you want to hit it. A shot gun has a fairly wide pattern and is much more destructive and can blow a 10 inch hole in your door. If you want to stop someone dead in their tracks AND push throw them back at least 6 feet at close range, a shotgun would be a better choice for home defense. Nobody can survive a single shotgun hit in the chest. Getting hit with a single shot from an AR would only be fatal if a vital organ or artery was hit.
@craigd False; you're telling and perpetuating several urban myths.  I think you watch and believe too many movies.  I suppose you believe that if you rack the slide the invaders will just wet their pants and run away too?
A shotgun's pattern at short ranges is still quite small. Â These aren't blunderbuss that spray a yard wide pattern at 6 feet. Â You still need to aim and be on your target to hit it. Â
Additionally, plenty of people have survived shotgun hits to the chest AND head. Â Personal experience: Â been there, treated those people.
@craigd At least, that's the way it is in the movies. When I shot a pattern with my Mossburg 500, using the standard 18.5" home defense barrel, at 10 yards (the maximum distance anywhere in my house) the pattern was less than 6" across. From two yards (middle of bedroom to door) is was only about 1.5 inches.Â
Think about recoil: when you shoot, does the 12 ga knock you over? no? Then how could the impact knock the target over?Â
Ever think about penetration and body armor? A shotgun, especially if you are using birdshot, may well not penetrate typical body-armor that a home-invader might get. OTOH, a .223 WILL. And you goal ISN'T to kill them, it is to STOP them. Both can do that, even with peripheral hits, but neither are guaranteed to do so.
Both are good, but they are different. choose what works best for YOU. And, of course, there is always the option of one guy using the 12 ga, and the significant other grabbing the AR15; then you have it covered both ways.
To add to this, if you use good 'ol lead shot and not the steel stuff, if someone that gets hit and doesn't die, they will get lead poisoning. My 8-shot Defender shotgun is loaded with a mix of slugs, 00 buckshot and traditional lead shells. My grandfathers old 5-shot semi-auto 16 gauge shotgun can shred a sheet of 1/2" plywood in less than 10 shots. An AR can only do that with at least 500 rounds
@craigd Seriously dude, you're scaring the vegetarians.
@craigd I think most people just want to protect themselves...not dismember an intruder in their hallway. Â
And this, people, is the person who is formulating our country's gun control bill!
@aintno1special Which is just proof that gun-controllers are idiots.
If shotguns are so much better to aim and shoot than AR-15's than why is the government trying to ban AR's and not shotguns?
The truth is the AR-15 is a much more accurate, easier to shoot weapon than a shotgun. I doubt Biden's ever shot an AR if he's making statements like that.Â
This isn't the first time Biden has said that he thinks it's harder to shoot someone with an assault weapon than it is a shotgun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoE98XWUfzw
So why exactly do you want to ban assault weapons Mr. Vice President, if you think they are too hard to use, and shotguns are easier to hit people with? Maybe after assault weapons are banned...they will be coming after your shotguns next. After all, Joe Biden himself openly admits that he thinks shotguns are more deadly.
Man he can really relate to the common man. A double barrel shot gun LOL what loaded with rock salt no less. Thats all you really need Joe knows best for you.
I don't agree with limiting what you can and can't own, but I will say this. If I've just broken into your house to steal something and I hear someone rack the slide on a pump shotgun...I'm leaving. If on the other hand the homeowner decides to empty a magazine of .223 into the intruder that works for me too. There's going to be more drywall to patch but both will get the job done.
Mike
So how will the Biden said it was ok defense work in court?
So, Joe, if someone breaks into our house we just aim a gun outside all willy nilly and fire 2 shots? LOL ok.Â
Whilst I prefer a nice 12g over an Ar15 for HD I respect anyone's choice when defending his home.
I wonder if he knows that "blasting off a couple shots" to scare someone away is illegal and also damn stupid?
@BoscoBaracus Yeah, that Sarah would have been so many more stupider than Slo-Joe.
I wonder how many shot guns you could by if Biden sold his fancy suit.
Why are these people so hell bent on banning the cosmetic features of one of the least common weapons used in crime. I am also tired of being expected to justify choosing one type of rifle over another to people who don't have a clue about firearms in the first place. I don't advise NASCAR drivers on what tires to use.
you're right. I am a liberal wackjob, but I own two guns. I also hate the NRA and hate being lied to by the media and politicians.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Ooa98FHuaU0
@northwestsurfer I swear northwest you are like my liberal brother from another mother. His videos are some of the best on the subject and straight to the point factual. Wish he did the news.
Jill..if there is any trouble,you just step out on the porch and call in an Apache gunship and vaporoze the featherplucking punks trying to molest our yard gnomes.......I love them yard gnomes
So I bet he is willing to no longer be protected by Secret Service with AR-15 or other semi-automatic weapons? All you get Joe is a stagecoach gun! Also, there needs to be an ammendment to the US Constitution that ANY law passed on citizens equally applies to senators, congressman and the President and his cabinet. So when you pass those gun laws, you will also no longer be able to have special ARMED protection!
Yeah joe, I'm sure the neighborhood you live in gets broken into all the time. Meth addicts breaking into your well lit, constantly patrolled by the ever vigilant police, high income area? And your wifeepoo needs to know how to fire a double barrel shotgun to "frighten" the little criminals away?
Try thinking about the defense that the normal citizen deserves to possess. The right to defend ones family, self, household and freedom itself is paramount.
I'd rather put more holes in a criminal with an assault rifle Joe the Biden.
I'll take my home defense advice from someone not outfitted with an armed secret service agents 24 hours a day.
I'll also take my home defense advice from someone who understands the 2nd Amendment and what it means before I take advice from someone that the 2nd Amendment warns me about.
@burton"...before I take advice from someone that the 2nd Amendment warns me about."
Please show me where in the 2nd Amendment it says that the Vice President of the United States is the reason we need well regulated militias.
@Sutekh @burton I'm pretty sure he's referring to stupid / inept / corrupt / dangerous pols in general, not Simple Joe in particular.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."
-Thomas Jefferson, Proposed Virginia Constitution, 1776, Jefferson Papers 344
@Sutekh @RN1 @burton
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.
The stupid/inept/corrupt/dangerous government officials are threats to the free state. That is why we have the right to arm ourselves.
It's not terribly complicated
@Sutekh @RN1 @burton It's in the tea bagger provission.
@RN1 @Sutekh @burton Fair enough. I'll rephrase my question: Where in the 2nd Amendment does it say we need militias because of stupid/inept/corrupt/dangerous government officials?
One doesn't really need the internet for free speech either. Newspapers did a good enough job in the past.
@Iconoclast No with the "no ar15's when 2nd was written" logic is used free speech only allies to word of mouth and HAND SET manual printed materials. So most mediums are not to be used to exercise the 1st.
and this idiot is one heart beat away from the Oval Office....
@swatguy1 He's the biggest single reason to oppose impeachment, unless we can get them both at one go.
@RN1Â @swatguy1 No, then Boehner would be the president.
You wanted him, you got him!
"Thanks everybody - you've been a terrific audience! I'll be here through January.........2017."
@Throbbinhood"You wanted him, you got him!"
Who you talking to?Â
Perhaps all of those who thought the comedy team of Barack & Joe did such a bang-up job in the first term?
I will take his advice, next time I think someone is breaking in my house, I'll shoot 2 rounds out the back door on the patio...right into my neighbors windows.Â
I'll also take my AR-15 over a shotgun any day. Â Shorter, less weight, much easier to handle, more ammo, there is a reason that police and military have made the carbines their primary long guns.
Biden, you're way off on this one. I'll take an AK15 over a shotgun to protect my life, any day of the week. NO comparison! If someone breaks into my home & threatens my life, I'm not interested in scaring them, I'm going to kill them.
Exactly, if you just wing em, they WILL come back and sue you for sure.
@AKjohn & if they're not dead, they can still kill you. Not taking my chances.
"Fire two blasts outside the house"....wow ol' Uncle Joe definitely doesn't believe in "Be sure of your target, backstop, and beyond." Â You'd think he received his unbelievable firearms skills in Afghanistan at Nowruz or a wedding, the way he advocates just blasting in the air, hahaha.
Well the nice part is now it is documented for your defense, "take a couple of blasts" and if you hit the wrong person your lawyer can aurgue that you were protecting yourself EXACTLY how the vice president instructed you to.