Joe Biden is a f*****g idiot

On Tuesday, Feb 19 Vice President Joe Biden took part in a live video Town Hall meeting on Facebbok, presented by Parents Magazine. I'm sure he had some very valuable things to say on a lot of topics, but where he really went off the rails was in response to a question posted by a user. This user asked if the ban on military style weapons would hurt the ability of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves. Mr Biden's suggestion was "Buy a shotgun".

The funniest part was when he said he told his wife Jill that if there was ever someone breaking in to the house, she should take their shotgun outside and fire off 2 rounds. You would never need more than that. Presumably that was BEFORE they had heavily armed Secret Service agents guarding them 24/7.

The following are some of the things that this totally misinformed political attack dog said, and why he is so incredibly ignorant of reality.

• Shotguns are easier to aim. Mr Biden obviously watches a lot of movies where a shotgun takes down an entire room full of bad guys, fired from the hip. Realty shows us that at normal across the room distances (in my house, maybe 15 feet), a shotgun blast is no more than 4" in diameter. Even that in generous with some of the chokes used on modern shotguns. So I need to make a 4" circle of lead impact the vital center chest area (perhaps 8" in diameter) without aiming? And if you are going to aim a shotgun, you would have an even more devastating effect with the single projectile of a rifle
• Shotguns are easier to shoot. Sure, ask any unsuspecting small person or child who has ever been handed a shotgun by a jokester, only to watch them get knocked to the ground by the recoil. If you are not prepared, pulling the trigger once on a shotgun will make darn sure you never pull it a second time without flinching.
• If someone is breaking in to your house go outside -----  well, sure. Leave the protection of your home, which you know better than anyone, and go outside where the bad guys are. Maybe there are more outside you can try to scare. Instead of taking a firearm, retreating in to a safe defend-able area of your home and waiting for help to arrive. You did call for help, didn't you?
• and fire off 2 rounds ----- great, and exactly where do you shoot them? Into the ground, where you are likely to hit your own foot, a pet, someone else with you? Or which will throw up so much dirt and debris that the bad guys will know exactly where you are (but that won't matter, because you won't see them coming). Or in to the air? Now we have lead pellets flying around (or maybe even 1 oz slugs of lead, depends on how your shotgun is loaded), coming back to earth who knows where. I live out in the country here in Texas, and I know there are several houses nearby that could potentially be in danger.
• ------ discharging a firearm should only be done if you life is in imminent danger. You shouldn't be shooting because you hear noises. You shouldn't be shooting because you see a vague shadow on the other side of the house. You shouldn't be chasing people running away and shooting them. You shoot when there are identified targets that mean to do you immediate and permanent harm. So how much effect fo you think you will have on a bad guy who is staring you in the eyes when you shoot in the other direction?
• ------ oh yeah, by the way,   you just went from a double barreled firearm capable of defeating most attackers, and turned it in to a club.
• You won't need more than 2 shots. Well, first of all you didn't actually DO anything with the 2 shots you had. Statistics prove that people who are not scared off by just the presence of a firearm are probably not going to be scared off by a warning shot. These are bad people intent on bad things, and often actually even being shot doesn't stop them.
• By shooting ineffectually in a non-threatening direction, you have just shown the intruder that you are probably incapable of actually shooting at a person, so they actually have LESS fear now.
• No body needs a 30 round magazine. Granted, most people do not need 30 rounds to stop a normal perpetrator entering their home for a simple burglary. But say, for instance, a hopped up drug addict has decided that you might have some good prescription medications, and brings along a couple of his friends. They don't care about you, they are just as likely to kill you if they find you as anything else. And in their highly charged, totally anesthetized state, you are probably going to have to shoot them at least 3 or 4 times to get them to stop. Plus, you are going to be so pumped up that you will probably only actually hit them 50% of the time (and you would be a pretty remarkable shot if you got that good). So three bad guys, times 6-8 shots each.... boy, I'm glad I didn't just bring a double barreled shotgun to this fight for my life.

I'm not going to tell you what to use to protect your loved ones. It depends on the time, the situation and the people involved. Pistols are very easy to maneuver within the confines of the house. Rifles have good stopping power, and studies show that a smaller round like the 223 will actually penetrate FEWER internal walls and structure before coming to a stop than even a 9mm pistol round. Pump action shotguns, semi-auto shotguns, even double and single barrel shotguns all have their place in defense. However, the purpose of a firearm is to STOP a bad guy from doing bad things to you or the ones you love.

If all that stands between my loved ones and a bad guy are 2 shotgun blasts, I am pretty sure I know which way MY shots are going to be aimed.