AG Alan Wilson responds to Biden’s State of the Union call to ban assault weapons

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and 15 other state attorneys wrote a letter calling out President Biden's statements during the State of the Union demanding Congress ban firearms.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)—South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and 15 other state attorneys wrote a letter calling out President Biden’s statements during the State of the Union demanding Congress ban firearms.

In a letter sent to President Biden, the attorneys general say the administration will deprive 100 million Americans of their ability to defend themselves under the president’s proposed policy of banning semi-automatic pistols.

In a press release, Attorney General Wilson says, “The Constitution is far higher authority than the President. But I don’t think President Biden knows that.”

The letter says:

“According to your own CDC, Americans use guns to protect themselves and their families up to 3 million times per year, if not more—far more often than guns are used in crimes, and far, far more often than guns injure people. The right to keep and bear arms in self-defense guards and protects the right to life, the first and most fundamental God-given right recognized in the Declaration of Independence. And, needless to say, your repeated attempts to deprive law-abiding Americans of guns that are in common and widespread use for self-defense are patently unconstitutional. We stand ready to oppose any attempt by your Administration to trample on this fundamental constitutional right.”

The Office of the Attorney General’s says the letter calls out President Biden for his incorrect claim that the 1994 federal “assault weapon” ban, which he supported in Congress, reduced mass shootings.

Two different studies commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice—during the Clinton and Bush Administrations—found no discernible effect on violent crime from that legislation, said the Office in a press release.