President Joe Biden took to Twitter to try and promote one of the left’s favorite causes, but the fact-checkers on the social media site were having none of it.
On Friday, the president went to Twitter to make his case for gun control and banning the AR-15 models, a cause that has near-universal support in his party. As part of his argument for gun control, Biden claimed that guns were the main cause of death for children in the United States.
“Guns are the #1 killer of kids in America. More than car accidents and more than cancer. We can’t let that become just another statistic,” Biden tweeted.
Much to Biden’s chagrin, the Twitter Community Notes feature quickly sprang into action to point out just how outrageous and inaccurate Biden’s claim was, instead showing that accidents are the leading cause of death for children.
“According to the CDC, accidents are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents,” the Community Note read.
In addition, the note also pointed out what it would take for Biden’s claim to be true, and it would require quite a bit of factual manipulation.
For Biden’s claim to have any merit, it would mean that children under one, who are rarely the victims of gun violence, are excluded, and 18 and 19-year-olds, part of the primary demographic that suffers from gun violence, were counted as children.
This, of course, is impossible, as infants are still considered children, and 18-year-olds and 19-year-olds are legally considered adults, meaning that their deaths are considered adult deaths.
Guns are the #1 killer of kids in America.
More than car accidents and more than cancer. We can’t let that become just another statistic.
Let’s ban AR-15-style firearms and other assault weapons.
— President Biden (@POTUS) June 16, 2023
By all accounts, this was just a cheap way to try and score political points for the far-left, while being completely divorced from reality.
In other words, it’s your typical leftist talking point.
The Community Note included a number of links refuting Biden’s inane claim, including studies and reports from a variety of outlets such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (here saying the No. 1 cause of death of children is “accidents”) and Snopes (here begrudgingly admitting that guns are not the leading cause of death in children without gross data manipulation).
In addition, many were quick to respond to the tweet by pointing out that the leading cause of child deaths is something mentioned neither by Biden, nor the Community Notes – abortion.
Abortion is actually the #1 killer of kids in America.
— Isabella Maria DeLuca (@IsabellaMDeLuca) June 17, 2023
No…abortion is the #1 killer of kids in America.
Not even close.
— Frontierz ??? (@frontierzman) June 16, 2023
People are absolutely right to remind the president of this. Abortion kills hundreds of thousands of children in the United States every year — many times more than are killed by gun violence.
In 2020, 930,160 unborn babies were aborted in the U.S., according to the Guttmacher Institute. That same year, there were 2,281 child gun deaths, according to Pew Research.
Biden claims to care about the lives of children, but at the same time, supports the very thing that is the leading cause of death in children.
Don’t forget: Biden wholeheartedly supports abortion despite the fact that it is at odds with the Catholic faith to which he supposedly subscribes.
Americans are sadly used to outrageous claims from the Biden administration, but this one might just take the cake. It is an outlandish claim that is obviously false to anyone with eyes to see.
Biden and the left are not being honest about this because this would mean admitting that their priorities are misplaced, and they would have to give up on causes that are near and dear to their hearts.
But, as the response to this tweet shows, the American people simply are not buying it anymore.
CORRECTION, June 19, 2023: Abortion kills hundreds of thousands of U.S. children per year. An earlier version of this article included a different figure and time frame.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
