Biden, on video, lashes out at Detroit worker in profanity-laced gun dispute
TOPSHOT - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden meets workers and discusses gun rights as he tours the Fiat Chrysler plant in Detroit, Michigan on March 10, 2020. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Former Vice President Joe Biden got into a heated and profanity-laced argument with a worker at a Fiat-Crysler auto plant Tuesday while touring a factory in Detroit, after the individual accused the Democratic presidential candidate of trying to take away his Second Amendment rights.
"You’re full of sh-- ... I support the Second Amendment," Biden shot back, stressing he's not going to take guns away.
The worker then told Biden, "You're working for me, man," and told Biden that he saw an online video supporting his claim that Biden is hostile to the Second Amendment.
Biden, pointing at the individual as they were mere inches apart in the middle of a crowd, said he's not working for him and told him not to be "such a horse's a--."
Biden, at one point mistakenly referring to "AR-14's," went on to press the individual to acknowledge that machine guns are illegal. Biden appeared to then misspeak in saying AR-15's are illegal, before questioning why anyone needs "100 rounds."
The dispute, caught on camera, happened at the Fiat-Chrysler plant as Biden stumped for votes in Michigan, the biggest prize among the states voting Tuesday with 125 delegates at stake.
Biden earlier told the workers, "You made me a hero when I was getting a lot of heat for the bailout, the rescue ... You guys saved management. Management didn’t save you." He also called the workers, "The best damn workers in the world."
Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir quote tweeted a video of the interaction from a CBS reporter Tuesday that was shared by GOP Rapid Response Director Steve Guest simply saying, "Oh no."
That prompted a response from Symone D. Sanders, a senior advisor to the Biden campaign. She said, "This was predictable."
Biden was previously criticized for apparently offering former presidential contender Beto O'Rourke a gun control role in his administration in a pre-Super Tuesday rally. O'Rourke said last year on the campaign trail, "Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47."
"I want to make something clear – I'm gonna guarantee you, this is not the last you're seeing of this guy – you're gonna take care of the gun problem with me, you're gonna be the one who leads this effort," Biden said of O'Rourke. "I'm counting on you, I'm counting on you, we need you badly."
Fox News' Gregg Re and Samuel Chamberlain contributed to this report.