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Biden Pushes Back on Michigan Voter in Dispute Over Guns

Biden Pushes Back on Michigan Voter in Dispute Over Guns

(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden told a Michigan voter that he was “full of sh-t” after being challenged on gun rights at a Fiat Chrysler plant in Detroit on Tuesday.

An unnamed man confronted the former vice president and Democratic presidential candidate at the event, on the day of Michigan’s primary, saying Biden was “actively trying to end our Second Amendment right and take away our guns.”

Biden Pushes Back on Michigan Voter in Dispute Over Guns

Biden looked him in the eye and said, “You’re full of sh-t. I did not. No. No.”

“I support the Second Amendment,” Biden said. “I have a shotgun, I have a 20-gauge, a 12-gauge. My sons hunt, guess what? I’m not taking your gun away at all. You need 100 rounds?”

The man cited a “viral video” in which he said Biden called for taking guns, which Biden dismissed.

“It’s a viral video like the other ones they’re putting out that are simply a lie,” he said.

The two men argued briefly before Biden said, “don’t be such a horse’s ass.”

Later Tuesday, Biden traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to accept the endorsements of two gun-safety groups, Moms Demand Action and Brady.

The campaigns of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have both highlighted video of the incident with the voter on Twitter, with Sanders’s campaign manager retweeing a Republican National Committee’s staffer’s post.

“I’m surprised that Sanders is joining Trump,” Biden said in Columbus. “It’s surprising.”

Although he didn’t directly address the earlier incident, he did discuss the issue that seemed to have led to the argument, his support for a ban on assault weapons.

“The Second Amendment is now and it has never been without limits. No one, no one needs an AR-15 or 100 rounds in a magazine to go hunting or for self-defense. It’s designed for no other purpose than to kill and kill quickly and brutally,” Biden said in Columbus.

Explaining why the NRA and the gun companies are opposed to tougher gun laws, Biden said they were motivated by greed. “This is about gun sales,” he said. “Sales, money, profit. That’s what it’s about.”

“Folks, it matters who we elect. It matters what we stand for,” he said. “Let’s start getting rid of Donald Trump as president and the initiatives the NRA in the Oval Office are continuing to dictate.”

(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, also sought the Democratic presidential nomination. He endorsed Joe Biden on March 4. Moms Demand Action is an arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit group founded and funded by Bloomberg that advocates for gun control measures.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Detroit, Michic at jepstein32@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan Crane, Bill Faries

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