Biden Advises Shooting Shotgun Through Door

Virginia Beach man charged for doing exactly that.

U.S. News & World Report

Biden: 'Fire the Shotgun Through the Door'

Vice President Joseph Biden speaks following a roundtable discussion on gun safety at Girard College in Philadelphia, Feb. 11, 2013.

Vice President Joseph Biden speaks following a roundtable discussion on gun safety at Girard College in Philadelphia, Feb. 11, 2013.(Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)

Vice President Joe Biden told Field & Stream magazine in an interview published Monday, "[if] you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door."

Coincidentally, a 22-year-old man in Virginia Beach, Va., was charged Monday with reckless handling of a firearm after doing just that a couple days earlier.

Local TV station WAVY 10 reports that the man observed two masked men leaning into his bedroom window. The men allegedly had weapons and told him to close his bedroom door. He stepped outside of his bedroom and did as instructed, then fired his shotgun through the closed door and then several more times at the window.

According to the news report there were no injuries and the suspects were not apprehended by police.

Biden's comments to Field & Stream were in response to a hypothetical question about "when the end days come" or if there's an earthquake.

Earlier this month, Biden told an interviewer that he had advised his wife, Jill, "if there's ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, walk out and put that double-barrel shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house."

 

According to Delaware attorneys contacted by U.S. News, in Biden's home state it is only legal to use deadly force if there is reason to fear imminent loss of life. Shooting a gun in the air could result in felony reckless endangering and aggravated menacing charges, in addition to misdemeanor charges, the lawyers said.

In December, Biden was selected by President Barack Obama to lead a task force on establishing new federal gun control laws. In January, Biden presented Obama will proposals including limiting the bullet capacity of gun magazines and establishing universal background checks for all gun purchases.

A spokeswoman for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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