"Buy a shotgun" is a phrase spoken by then Vice-President of the United States Joe Biden during a video question and answer session hosted by Parents Magazine in 2013. During the session, Biden questioned the utility of a semi-automatic rifle as a home defense weapon, suggesting a shotgun was more appropriate. He went on to explain that he owned two shotguns and had advised the Second Lady of the United States, Jill Biden, to use one of them to "fire two blasts" should she feel threatened by someone or something. The advice later became a subject of interest in social media and popular culture.
In January 2013, during an interactive chat session on the social networking site Google+, then vice-president of the United States Joe Biden responded to a question about personal protection in the wake of a natural disaster by explaining the prudence in buying "some shotgun shells" to repel looters. [1]
"You know, it's harder to use an assault weapon to hit something than it is a shotgun, OK. So if you want to keep people away in an earthquake, buy some shotgun shells." [2]
The following month, Biden was interviewed by Field & Stream , during which he said ownership of semi-automatic rifles was unnecessary for persons who owned shotguns since they would be able "to keep someone away" from their home by firing "the shotgun through the door". [3] The interview was published on February 25, though conducted earlier in the month. [3] [4]
Later, on February 19, Biden hosted a question and answer session with Parents Magazine on the social networking site Facebook. [1] [5] During the session, the topic of gun control was raised. [5] Biden noted that he personally owned two shotguns and had advised Jill Biden that "if there's ever a problem" to walk outside their home and "fire two blasts". [1] [6] Biden also explained that he felt shotguns were more appropriate for personal security than an AR-15 which, he said, was more difficult to aim and use. [1] He concluded by stating, "Buy a shotgun! Buy a shotgun!" [1] [5] [6]
In 2020, responding to criticism from a Detroit autoworker who confronted him about gun control policies, Biden explained his two shotguns were in calibers 12-gauge and 20-gauge. [7]
Biden's remarks during his Facebook session, according to CNN, "unleashed a torrent of online reaction" on social media. [8]
The Wilmington, Delaware police department – in whose jurisdiction it is believed Biden's shotguns were stored [lower-alpha 1] – advised that it was illegal for residents to discharge firearms on their property unless "you really feel that your life is being threatened". [9] Former Delaware deputy attorney general John Garey also advised residents not to follow Biden's advice to "fire two blasts" due to Delaware self-defense statutes which required a person have a reasonable fear of "imminent death" before resorting to deadly force. [9] Some gun rights advocates also opined that they felt Biden's advice was legally reckless. [9] [10]
Kathleen Jennings, a prosecutor at the Delaware Department of Justice, disagreed with assessments that Biden's advice was unsound noting that "in Delaware, a person can legally fire a weapon to protect themselves and others from someone intruding onto her dwelling". [10] Questioned by The Washington Post whether her reading of the law was colored by the fact that Biden's son, Beau Biden, was at the time the head of the Delaware Department of Justice, Jennings rejected the suggestion and noted she had spent 32 years as both a prosecutor and a criminal defense attorney. [10] [11]
Regarding the efficacy of a shotgun as a personal security device, Jeff Johnston wrote in American Hunter that "Biden had it partially right when he said shotguns are good for self-defense," but objected to Biden's specific advice to use a double-barreled shotgun. [12]
A Washington state man was put on trial in November 2013 for illegal discharge of a firearm after he fired a shotgun blast to deter car thieves on his property the previous summer. [13] During his trial, the man pleaded in his defense that "I did what Joe Biden told me to do" but was convicted in a jury trial nonetheless. [13] [14] The defense claim was later referred to by some media as the "Joe Biden defense". [14]
Christopher Andrew Coons is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Delaware since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Coons served as the county executive of New Castle County from 2005 to 2010.
Joseph Robinette "Beau" Biden III was an American politician, lawyer, and officer in the Army Judge Advocate General's Corps from Wilmington, Delaware. He was the oldest child of President Joe Biden and Neilia Hunter Biden, served as the 44th attorney general of Delaware from 2007 to 2015, and was a major in the Delaware Army National Guard in the Iraq War. He died of glioblastoma at the age of 46 in 2015, at which time he was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor of Delaware in the 2016 gubernatorial election.
Joe Biden, President of the United States, served as Vice President from 2009 to 2017 and in the United States Senate from 1973 until 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he made his second presidential run in 2008, later being announced as Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's running mate in 2008. He was elected vice president in 2008 and re-elected in 2012. In April 2019, Biden announced his 2020 presidential campaign. He became the presumptive Democratic nominee in April 2020, was formally nominated by the Democratic Party in August 2020, and defeated Republican incumbent Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.
Jill Tracy Jacobs Biden is an American educator who has been the first lady of the United States since 2021 as the wife of President Joe Biden. She was the second lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017 when her husband was vice president. Since 2009, she has been a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College, and is believed to be the first wife of a vice president or president to hold a salaried job during the majority of her husband's tenure.
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Ashley Blazer Biden is an American social worker, activist, philanthropist, and fashion designer. She served as the executive director of the Delaware Center for Justice from 2014 to 2019. Prior to her administrative role at the center, Biden worked in the Delaware Department of Services for Children, Youth, and Their Families. She founded the fashion company Livelihood, which partners with the online retailer Gilt Groupe to raise money for community programs focused on eliminating income inequality in the United States, launching it at New York Fashion Week in 2017. Biden's parents are President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
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Maryellen Noreika is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware.
The United States Senate career of Joe Biden began on January 3, 1973, and ended on January 15, 2009. A member of the Democratic Party from the state of Delaware, Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972, and was sworn into office at the age of 30; he was later reelected five times and is Delaware's longest-serving U.S. senator. As a senator, Biden drafted and led the effort to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act. He also oversaw six U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, including the contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas.
Neilia Hunter Biden was an American teacher and the first wife of Joe Biden, the 46th president of the United States. She died in a car crash in 1972 with their one-year-old daughter, Naomi. Their two sons, Beau and Hunter, were critically injured but survived the incident. Her death occurred six weeks after her husband's election to the U.S. Senate.
Mary Valerie Biden Owens is an American political strategist, campaign manager and former educator. She is the younger sister of Joe Biden, the 46th and current president of the United States. In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated her as alternate representative of the United States to the 71st Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Howard David Krein is an American otolaryngologist, plastic surgeon, and business executive. He is the husband of Ashley Biden, the daughter of United States President Joe Biden. He is an assistant professor of otolaryngology at Thomas Jefferson University and is a founding partner and co-director of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital's Facial Aesthetic and Reconstructive Center. Krein is the chief medical officer at StartUp Health, a venture capital and health technology firm. He served on the Biden Cancer Initiative's board of directors from 2017 to 2019. Krein advised the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign on its COVID-19 pandemic response in an unofficial role.
Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who previously served as vice president for two terms under President Barack Obama, took office following his victory in the 2020 presidential election over Republican incumbent president Donald Trump. Upon his inauguration, he became the oldest president in American history, breaking the record set by Ronald Reagan. Biden entered office amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic crisis, and increased political polarization.
Champ was a German Shepherd owned by Joe Biden's family. He joined them in living at the White House in 2021. Champ was the older of the two German Shepherds the Bidens owned at the start of his presidency. The younger German Shepherd was Major.
The COVID-19 Advisory Board was announced in November 2020 by President-elect of the United States Joe Biden as part of his presidential transition. It was co-chaired by physicians David A. Kessler, Marcella Nunez-Smith, and Vivek Murthy and comprises 13 health experts. The board was then succeeded by the White House COVID-19 Response Team upon Biden's presidency in January 2021.
The following is a timeline of major events leading up and during the 2020 United States presidential election, the 59th quadrennial United States presidential election, from January to October 2020. For previous events, see Timeline of the 2020 United States presidential election (2017–2019). For subsequent events, see Timeline of the 2020 United States presidential election
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., the 46th president of the United States, was born November 20, 1942, at St. Mary's Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. The oldest child in a Catholic family, Biden has a sister, Valerie, and two brothers, Francis and James.
Hallie K. Biden is an American school counselor, non-profit executive, and member of the Biden family. She worked as a school counselor at the Tatnall School in Wilmington, Delaware, and at Archmere Academy in Claymont, Delaware. In 2002, she married Beau Biden, a son of U.S. President Joe Biden and Neilia Hunter Biden. They lived in Wilmington while her husband served as the Attorney General of Delaware. After her husband's death from glioblastoma in 2015, Biden became the chairwoman of the board of directors for the Beau Biden Foundation For the Protection of Children. She received media attention and scrutiny for her romantic relationship with Beau's brother Hunter Biden from 2016 to 2019.