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California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, (presumptive) President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, said AR-15s are akin to military-grade weapons and not useful for self defense in a 2019 court filing.
The AG’s statements were included in a court case that challenged California’s gun ban titled Rupp v. Becerra, in which multiple state residents sued government officials to overturn the prohibition of certain semi-automatic firearms. Becerra, an advocate for the Affordable Care Act, was announced as Biden’s pick to lead HHS Sunday, according to the New York Times.
“Assault rifles may be banned because they are, like the M-16, ‘weapons that are most useful in military service’’; and ‘they are also not ‘in common use’ for lawful purposes like self-defense,'” Becerra wrote in defense of California’s weapon ban.
The AG also argued, citing Kolbe v. Hogan, a prominent gun case, that an M-16, a military rifle capable of firing fully automatic, is less lethal than an AR-15, which is incapable of transitioning to fully automatic fire, the court document read. Becerra also presented an argument from the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence which alleged that “assault weapons” possess “no legitimate civilian purpose.”
Becerra also teamed up with Giffords Law Center, a prominent anti-Second Amendment group, and filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump’s administration to demand the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) “correct its interpretation of what qualifies as a firearm,” according to a late September press release.
The lawsuit sought to effectively ban 80% receivers, which are unfinished firearm components that are not classified as complete guns in the eyes of the ATF. The AG referred to the unfinished components as “ghost guns.”
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Dr. Vivek Murthy, Mr. Biden‘s pick to reprise his role as U.S. surgeon general, made the case during the Obama administration that gun violence should be treated as a public health issue as Mr. Biden helped lead the charge for stricter controls when he was Mr. Obama’s vice president.
Dr. Murthy, meanwhile, attracted scorn from gun rights activists during his confirmation process in 2013 and 2014 for saying that gun violence should be treated as a public health issue.
“Tired of politicians playing politics w/guns, putting lives at risk b/c they’re scared of NRA. Guns are a health care issue,” he tweeted in October 2012, about two months before the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.