President Joe Biden taunted Second Amendment supporters Tuesday night, telling them that they would "need an F-16" to take on the United States government.
The president was discussing gun violence in America at a fundraising event in a private California residence when he made his remarks, according to published reports.
"We have to change," Biden reportedly said. "There's a lot of things we can change, because the American people by and large agree you don't need a weapon of war. I'm a Second Amendment guy. I taught it for four years, six years in law school. And guess what? It doesn't say that you can own any weapon you want. It says there are certain weapons that you just can't own. Even during when it was passed, you couldn't own a cannon. You can't own a machine gun. … No, I'm serious."
Biden then mocked Second Amendment supporters by saying their guns wouldn't stand a chance in the face of the military might of the U.S. government.
"You know, I love these guys who say the Second Amendment is — you know, the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots," he continued. "Well, if [you] want to do that, you want to work against the government, you need an F-16. You need something else than just an AR-15."
The quote Biden was referring to comes from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote in November 1787.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants," Jefferson wrote from Paris.
The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson also served as America's third president.
In his comments Tuesday night, Biden also speculated about the AR-15's popularity among gun manufacturers.
"You know one of the reasons why the AR-15 is so strongly supported by so many folks in that — in that industry?" the president asked. "Number one, it's the cheapest weapon to make and it's the highest profit motive they have for any weapon that is made. It makes more money to sell an AR-15 than any other weapon you can buy."
The Second Amendment does not impose limitations on who can "keep and bear arms" or specify what kind of arms the people may keep or bear; federal gun regulation was not enacted until 1934.
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