White House Pushes Gun Control Before Details of Louisville Shooting Known

Officers with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) respond to an active
Luke Sharrett/Getty Images

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referenced Monday’s attack on a Louisville, Kentucky, bank and pushed for gun storage laws, an “assault weapons” ban, a “high capacity” magazine ban, and the ability to file suits against gun manufacturers.

Jean-Pierre said President Biden is praying for the families impacted by the Old National Bank shooting.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 10, 2023. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

She then noted that Biden wants Congressional Republicans to work with Democrats to “ban ‘assault weapons’ and ‘high capacity’ magazines, to require safe storage of firearms, to require background checks for all gun sales, to eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.”

Jean-Pierre described the proposed gun controls “common sense.”

**Warning: Disturbing Content**: WATCH: Police Rush to Respond to Active Shooter at Louisville Bank:

Hagan Curd via Storyful

She put forward the gun controls at approximately 2:15 p.m. Eastern, a time at which police had released no details on the type of gun used or the means by which the gun was acquired.

Breitbart News has previously fact-checked the claim that gun manufacturers enjoy immunity from liability.

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) protects gun manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits over guns that were legally made and legally sold. However, the PLCAA does not provide blanket immunity.

Breitbart News pointed out:

PLCAA is very narrow in scope. It shields gun makers from lawsuits in situations where a gun, criminally used, was legally made and legally sold.

In other words, Glock cannot be sued over a handgun that was used in crime if that handgun was legally made then distributed from the factory to a Federal Firearms License holder (FFL), then sold via a National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS) check to an individual at retail.

The text of PLCAA states: “Businesses in the United States that are engaged in interstate and foreign commerce through the lawful design, manufacture, marketing, distribution, importation, or sale to the public of firearms or ammunition products that have been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce are not, and should not, be liable for the harm caused by those who criminally or unlawfully misuse firearm products or ammunition products that function as designed and intended.”

“However, the protections set forth PLCAA do not shield gun manufacturers from lawsuits over defective goods, criminal misconduct on the part of the gun maker, etc. In other words, the protections in PLCAA do not provide gun makers with ‘legal immunity.'” the report concluded.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.

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