Vice President Joe Biden said it’s easier to hit a target with shotgun than an assault weapon during his first-ever “Fireside Hangout” on gun violence Thursday, hosted on the White House’s Google Plus page.
Biden made the remark to defend his position that banning assault weapons will not impede the safety of American gun owners. (RELATED: Five hints Biden will run for president in 2016)
“A shotgun will keep you a lot safer — a double-barreled shotgun — than an assault weapon in somebody’s hand who doesn’t know how to use it, even one who does know how to use it,” Biden said. “You know, it’s harder to use an assault weapon to hit something than it is a shotgun.”
The vice president was responding to a question from prominent 27-year old video blogger Philip Defranco, who hosts a series of Web videos called “The Vloggity,” and also starred in a web series entitled “Hooking Up,” with various other Internet celebrities.
Defranco asked whether the Obama administration’s new gun control policy was infringing on the safety of California gun owners who wish to protect themselves during an earthquake or other natural disaster.
“You want to keep people away in an earthquake? Buy some shotgun shells,” Biden said. (RELATED: Biden says government doesn’t have time to prosecute people who lie to buy firearms)
Biden also fielded questions during the discussion from entrepreneur, blogger and Democratic donor Guy Kawasaki, who inquired as to how he could better support gun control measures. Other questioners were mental health practitioner Kimberly Blaine, who stressed that it was an “honor” to speak to Biden, and a woman from Hartford County, Conn. whose dog barked in the background throughout her segment.
Biden sought to invoke President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous “fireside chats” with his Google Plus forum.