NASHUA, N.H. — Former Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday that he is open to a federal firearm licensing system and suggested fingerprint-locked guns as a way to combat gun violence.
“I’ve never heard of that before, I think it’s worth looking into,” Biden told the Washington Examiner Tuesday at a campaign stop when asked his position on federal firearm licensing. “I don’t know whether, where that is in terms of under the Constitution whether we’re able to do that. My guess is we could.”
Last week, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, unveiled a plan to combat gun violence that includes a federal firearm licensing system. His campaign called it the “most sweeping gun violence prevention plan ever put forth by a presidential candidate.”
“I think there’s a lot of things we could do directly now,” said Biden. “Gun licensing will not change whether or not people buy what weapons, what kind of weapons they can buy, where they can use them, how they can store them, etc.”
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The 2020 Democratic primary field front-runner said that it is more important to figure out whether individuals are entitled to have firearms, bringing up universal background checks.
In 2013, the Senate rejected proposals backed by Biden and former President Barack Obama that would have expanded background checks for gun sales and banned some military-style semi-automatic “assault” weapons.
Biden also brought up fingerprint-locking guns that allow only authorized users to fire a weapon.
“For example, one of the things we worked on early on, and I worked on with folks out in Silicon Valley, we should be able to make a weapon that, in fact, you can only, if you can buy it, can only be fired with James Bond kind of stuff, if it has your print on it. You’re the only one that can pull the trigger,” Biden said. “That’s within our capacity to do that.”
Obama advocated for similar smart-gun technology in 2016.
Other Democratic 2020 candidates Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke also recently chimed in on federal gun licensing when asked about it at New Hampshire campaign stops in the last week.
O’Rourke said that federal licenses “may go too far” before changing his mind overnight, saying the next morning that “we should explore the idea.” Gillibrand told the Washington Examiner on Saturday that she does not support federal gun licenses, pointing to universal background checks and an assault weapons ban as a more effective way to combat gun violence.
“This is not just about the gun owners. It’s not even about the [National Rifle Association],” Biden said. “Sixty percent of the NRA agrees with what I was trying to do in the administration. They think there should be limitations.”
“It’s gun manufacturers. That’s where the money is,” Biden concluded.
