In the national gun control debate, Vice President Joe Biden is viewed as the Democratic party's point man on strengthening the limits of firearm ownership.
In an online town-hall Q&A this week, Biden was bombarded by people skeptical of his efforts to ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
One participant asked Biden how he and President Barack Obama reconciled a ban on assault weapons with those already in the hands of criminals.
"How can say this politely?" Biden said. "The Constitution does allow the government to conclude there are certain types of weapons that no one can legally known."
"If that were not the case, then you should be able to go buy a flame-thrower that the military has. [Or] if you're a billionaire, buy an F-15 loaded with ordnance."
"You should be able to buy an M1 tank. You should be able to buy a machine gun. You should be able to buy a grenade launcher. And you can't do those things."
The V.P. said if one accepts those limitations, the question becomes balancing the right to weapons for self defense, sporting, and those outlawed.
Joe Biden owns two shotguns (as he pointed out memorably in the video below) and often references this in debates of the practicality of assault weapons.
In a particularly offbeat moment today, he explained an imaginary scenario where trouble would come to the Delaware home he shares with wife Jill.
"I said, 'Jill, if there's ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, walk out and put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house."
Continuing his hypothetical altercation, Biden stated a shotgun would be easier to fend off an intruder than the civilian variant of an M-16 assault rifle.
"You don't need an AR-15," he said. "It's harder to aim, it's harder to use, and in fact you don't need 30 rounds to protect yourself," he said. "Buy a shotgun."
When another reader questioned how a "ban on guns" would work when prohibition of narcotics failed to keep them off the streets, Biden responded curtly.
"There is no ban on guns," he said. "No one's banning the gun. No one's taking my shotguns. I have two shotguns at home. They're in a - in a cabinet. They're locked."
"There is a ammunition there as well. No one is going to come and take my gun. No one's going to take anyone's gun. We're talking about a background check."
He then asked whether the drug analogy even made sense.
"Are you suggesting we just legalize all drugs?That would go real well in Parents magazine," he said, referring to the sponsor of the town hall event.
"Let's talk about everybody being able to - no matter what your age, go out and be able to purchase cocaine. What do you think about that idea?"
"Look, these comparisons are not appropriate, quite frankly."
Your take: Time for more stricter gun control laws?
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