{"id":1505766,"date":"2022-06-06T17:20:56","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T21:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1505766"},"modified":"2022-06-06T17:21:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T21:21:00","slug":"fact-check-joe-biden-claims-individuals-could-not-buy-cannons-when-the-second-amendment-was-enacted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-joe-biden-claims-individuals-could-not-buy-cannons-when-the-second-amendment-was-enacted\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Joe Biden Claims Individuals Could Not Buy Cannons When The Second Amendment Was Enacted"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-joe-biden-claims-individuals-could-not-buy-cannons-when-the-second-amendment-was-enacted%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1505766&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>President Joe Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/speeches-remarks\/2022\/05\/30\/remarks-by-president-biden-after-marine-one-arrival-10\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">claimed<\/a> in May 30 remarks that individuals could not buy cannons when the Second Amendment was enacted in 1791.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: False<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Individuals could own and buy cannons when the Second Amendment was enacted, according to experts.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Biden has called for a federal ban on assault weapons and new \u201cred flag\u201d legislation following a school shooting in Texas that left 19 students and two teachers dead, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2022\/06\/02\/us\/biden-gun-control-speech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to reporters on Memorial Day about his plans, Biden claimed, \u201cThe Constitution, the Second Amendment was never absolute. You couldn\u2019t buy a cannon when the Second Amendment was passed,\u201d according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/biden-second-amendment-when-passed-couldnt-buy-cannon-1711480\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Newsweek<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Experts who spoke with Check Your Fact and other publications said Biden\u2019s claim about cannons is factually incorrect. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2018\/05\/23\/fact-check-nra-mark-warner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Did The NRA Support Mark Warner As A Governor?)\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.gmu.edu\/faculty\/directory\/fulltime\/lund_nelson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nelson Lund<\/a>, a law professor at George Mason University\u2019s Antonin Scalia Law School, pointed Check Your Fact to a <a href=\"https:\/\/deliverypdf.ssrn.com\/delivery.php?ID=038100029123010005087074094000123085063074048044030088076020000023091093126066120119002123033063023055035075100020107099086113049087078093002001088096100099126028029062086105067120085106091089081023002031068011072014093101096081105125122100100064017&#038;EXT=pdf&#038;INDEX=TRUE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paper<\/a> he wrote, published in the University of Florida Journal of Law &#038; Public Policy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring the founding era, and apparently for many decades thereafter, civilians were free to possess military weapons that were more powerful and destructive than modern machine guns,\u201d reads the paper in part. It goes on to note that cannons were among these weapons and that individual states were \u201cfree to regulate these weapons as they saw fit\u201d under the purpose of maintaining \u201ca well-regulated militia.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body\" data-qa=\"article-body\">\n<p class=\"font-copy font--article-body gray-darkest ma-0 pb-md\" data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i2i.org\/about\/our-people\/dave-kopel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Kopel<\/a>, the research director at the Independence Institute, agreed with Lund\u2019s assessment in an email to Check Your Fact.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs of 1791, there were no federal or state bans on any type of arm,\u201d said Kopel.\u00a0\u201cThe Constitution presumes that individuals will own cannons. Article I, section 8, gives Congress the power to \u2018grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal.\u2019 Such letters authorize a person to raid and capture the ships of an enemy nation. In the eighteenth century, any ship capable of combat had cannons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-qa=\"drop-cap-letter\" data-el=\"text\">As Kopel states, the Constitution allowed for <a href=\"https:\/\/constitution.congress.gov\/browse\/essay\/artI-S8-C11-1\/ALDE_00001072\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Congress<\/a> to grant letters of marque and reprisal in times of war. Over 500 ships sailed underneath such letters during the War of 1812, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/letter-of-marque\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Britannica<\/a>. Some of the ships were armed with cannons, The Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2021\/06\/28\/bidens-false-claim-that-2nd-amendment-bans-cannon-ownership\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fordham.edu\/info\/20762\/faculty\/6385\/saul_cornell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Saul Cornell<\/a>, a history professor at Fordham University, pointed Check Your Fact to an article he wrote for <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2021\/06\/joe-biden-cannons-wrong-guns-right.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Slate<\/a> in 2021 in which he argued that Biden\u2019s previous statement on cannons was wrong, but his wider view on the Second Amendment was correct.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlthough Biden did not get the history right in this instance, the constitutional principle he identified was uncontroversial at the time of the Second Amendment,\u201d Cornell wrote. He stated that while there was no law preventing citizens from owning \u201cdangerous or unusual weapons,\u201d there was little evidence suggesting cannon ownership by private citizens was widespread.<\/p>\n<p>There were some state and local laws that limited ownership of weapons in the years after the Second Amendment was passed, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politifact.com\/factchecks\/2021\/jun\/25\/joe-biden\/joe-biden-gets-history-wrong-second-amendment-limi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">PolitiFact<\/a>. Such laws include a 1792 Virginia law preventing black people from owning any firearms and a 1795 Massachusetts law that targeted rioters who owned guns.<\/p>\n<p>Check Your Fact has reached out to the White House and will update this article if a response is provided.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Joe Biden claimed in May 30 remarks that individuals could not buy cannons when the Second Amendment was enacted in 1791.Verdict: FalseIndividuals could own and buy cannons when the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1505766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1505766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1505766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1505766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1505766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}