New York Times reporter Michael D. Shear asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at Thursday’s press briefing if Joe Biden would go after the company that made a firearm that was used in the Uvalde shooting.
Shear asked Jean-Pierre if the president would target the company that legally made the gun that was legally sold to the the individual who then used it to carry out the heinous Uvalde attack.
“Apparently the company that sold the shooter his rifles received a $3 million PPP loan under the last administration. Do you know if there’s any effort by this administration to claw that money back?” Shear said.
“So I — this is the first I’m hearing about this, so I would have to go back to the team and look into it. Do you know the name of the company?” Jean-Pierre responded.
Shear answered, “Yeah, the name of the company is Daniel Defense — D-A-N-I-E-L Defense. Apparently, they received a, I think, $3.1 million PPP loan right at the beginning. My colleagues have been writing about it, apparently, today. But if — if — assuming that is confirmed, would the President, do you think, support the idea of trying to claw that money back?”
Jean-Pierre responded by stating that she needs to make sure that Shear’s claims are “factual” before saying anything else.
She said she would “check with the team” then get back to Shear on the topic.
On May 24 Breitbart News noted that the Uvalde attacker got his guns legally from a gun store. And Los Angeles Times legal affairs columnist Harry Litman pointed out, “[The] shooter bought the two assault rifles from an FFL on his recent 18th birthday.”
Purchases from an FFL require a background check, which is why “authorities” told the Houston Chronicle the attacker “legally purchased two rifles in the days following his 18th birthday.”
FOX News reported that one of the guns used by the Uvalde attacker was a Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 rifle. That gun was legally made and legally sold.
The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) shields gun makers from lawsuits pertaining to the criminal use of guns that were legally made and legally sold. President Biden pushed for repeal of PLCAA while on the campaign trail.
For instance, Breitbart News pointed out that Biden told New Hampshire voters it was a “mistake” to give “gun manufacturers … a loophole that does not allow them to be sued for the carnage they are creating.”
He added, “The first thing I’m going to do as president is work to get rid of that, and it’s going to be hard.”
On February 24, 2020, when Biden was speaking in South Carolina, he looked into the camera and said, “I’ve got news for you gun manufacturers. I’m coming for you and I’m going to take you down.”
Neither Biden nor his White House have said whether car manufacturers who legally make and legally sell vehicles will be targeted if those vehicles are criminally used after being sold.
