Biden declares, ‘No amendment to Constitution is absolute’ as he rolls out gun measures

WASHINGTON — President Biden on Thursday announced a slew of new gun control measures after a recent pair of high-profile mass shootings, and insisted the Second Amendment doesn’t grant an absolute right to own guns.

Biden presented the executive actions in the Rose Garden, joined by Attorney General Merrick Garland and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“No amendment to the Constitution is absolute,” Biden maintained, pointing to the famous Supreme Court ruling that you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater as part of the First Amendment’s free speech clause.

“From the very beginning you couldn’t own any weapon you wanted to own, and from the very beginning of [when] the Second Amendment existed certain people weren’t allowed to have weapons. So the idea is just bizarre to suggest that some of the things we’re recommending are contrary to the Constitution,” he said.  “Gun violence in this country is an epidemic and it’s an international embarrassment.”