HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen today called out President Biden’s recent irresponsible, radical, and unconstitutional statements he made during the State of the Union demanding Congress ban firearms commonly used by law-abiding Americans for self-defense.

In a letter sent to President Biden, 15 other state attorneys general joined Attorney General Knudsen in highlighting the many flaws of his reasons for banning his personal, broad definition of “assault weapons,” as well as the dangers of doing so.

“According to your own CDC, Americans use guns to protect themselves and their families up to 3 million times per year, if not more—far more often than guns are used in crimes, and far, far more often than guns injure people,” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen wrote. “The right to keep and bear arms in self-defense guards and protects the right to life, the first and most fundamental God-given right recognized in the Declaration of Independence. And, needless to say, your repeated attempts to deprive law-abiding Americans of guns that are in common and widespread use for self-defense are patently unconstitutional. We stand ready to oppose any attempt by your Administration to trample on this fundamental constitutional right.”

Semi-automatic pistols are the self-defense weapon of choice for the overwhelming majority of law-abiding gun owners. Under President Biden’s proposed policy, over 100 million Americans will be deprived of their ability to defend themselves, their families, homes, and businesses.

Additionally, the letter calls out President Biden for his incorrect claim that the 1994 federal “assault weapon” ban, which he supported in Congress, reduced mass shootings.  Two different studies commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice—during the Clinton and Bush Administrations—found no discernible effect on violent crime from that legislation.

Attorney General Knudsen has been actively fighting the targeting of the firearms industry and Montanans’ gun rights. He asked major shipping companies to clarify their gun-purchase tracking policies and called on YouTube to stop censoring firearm-related speech. Last week, he filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration’s unlawful pistol brace rule.

Click here to read the letter.