Vice President Joe Biden recommends a shotgun over an assault weapon. Biden took questions from readers of Parents magazine at a Facebook Town Hall meeting hosted by the venerable magazine, reports the Huffington Post on Tuesday, Feb. 19. The vice president fielded a surprising question from a reader named Kate about how she could protect her home if certain guns and high-capacity magazines are banned by Congress.
Joe Biden almost laughed it off. “Kate, if you want to protect yourself, get a double barreled shotgun,” the vice president answered. “I promise you, as I told my wife, we live in an area that's wooded and somewhat secluded. I said, Jill, if there's ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, walk out, put [up] that double barreled shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house.”
Biden has set off a fire storm of outrage, of course, but his flip delivery about a serious issue was the problem. There was nothing wrong with his advice. He did not advise everyone to buy a gun of any kind, but if you want one: “You don't need an AR-15," he said. "Buy a shotgun! Buy a shotgun!”
This advice is in keeping with what many gun owners believe. There can be dozens of valid reasons to keep a gun – or several guns – in the home, but no one has ever come up with a good reason to have a working assault rifle and its ammo at home. Not unless killing a lot of people, quickly, is the aim.
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