![Home defense expert Joe Biden has counseled people to buy shotguns and discharge them in the back yard if there is "a problem" at home.](http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_content_width/hash/1d/fc/1dfc343f609824b099c8bd6ab38fc8b6.jpg?itok=sxatpVKQ "Home defense expert Joe Biden has counseled people to buy shotguns and discharge them in the back yard if there is "a problem" at home.")
Vice President Joe Biden’s sage advice to his wife about handling “a problem” at their Delaware home is to violate the law by discharging both barrels of a double-barrel shotgun in the yard.
That was the gist of a story published by USA Today and a video circulated by the Weekly Standard Tuesday. It is getting lots of attention, none of it good, and even KVI’s John Carlson on Wednesday morning nicknamed the vice president “Buckshot Joe.” This column hasn't bounced that one off King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg, but there are some doubts this would pass his smell test.
Biden’s advice not only recommends an action that could land someone in court facing a charge that could — depending upon the jurisdiction — be a misdemeanor, gross misdemeanor or even a felony, he also would have someone violate one of the golden rules of self-defense. Never fire warning shots.
Home defense apparently is another one of Biden’s “Big f----- deals.” According to gun owners responding to the vice president’s advice, it could also be a “big f------- legal mess” for anybody who pulls that stunt. Apparently, Biden didn’t consult with Massad Ayoob, founder of the Lethal Force Institute and now head of the Massad Ayoob Group who teaches once a year with Defense Associates, before offering his “tactical expertise.”
While the firearms industry is no doubt grateful that the vice president wants to boost the sale of double-barrel shotguns – he didn’t advise buying pumps or semi-autos – there are no doubt legions of volunteer firearms and hunter education instructors cringing in every corner of the nation. Folks who operate advanced firearms training schools, such as Thunder Ranch, Firearms Academy of Seattle, Insights Training and Gunsite Academy would advise other courses of action, and graduates of those courses might be pounding their heads against walls.
Biden is the Obama administration’s go-to guy on firearms, which explains why President Barack Obama put him in charge of that task force on gun violence that held talks with various user groups and reached the pre-conceived conclusion that the nation’s violent crime problem will go away if semiautomatic rifles are banned. Rifles are used in a small fraction of the gun-related homicides annually.
However, this column now has an ironclad defense against criminal charges in the unlikely event we’re ever charged with a crime involving the promiscuous use of a firearm.
“Your honor, Joe Biden told me to do it!”
Suggested reading:
Washington State Gun Rights and Responsibilities
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