Presidential contender Joe Biden’s fortunes have recently shifted, with game-changing wins in several important Democrat primary contests. He has succeeded in part by positioning himself as the Democrats’ “safe” choice to square off against President Trump, at least in comparison to self-proclaimed Socialist Bernie Sanders.

But make no mistake, Biden offers no safety to gun owners of any party, as shown by his recent promise that avowed firearm confiscation advocate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke would lead the Biden administration’s effort against the “gun problem.”

On the Monday before Super Tuesday’s multiple state primaries, O’Rourke endorsed Biden for president at a rally in Dallas. Biden reciprocated by offering his former rival in the Democrat primary a job.

“I want to make something clear,” Biden said to the cheering crowd of Democrat voters. “I’m going to guarantee you this is not the last you’ll see of this guy.” He continued by addressing O’Rourke: “YOU’RE going to take care of the gun problem with me. YOU’RE going to be the one who leads this effort. I’m counting on ya.”

Just what sort of position Biden has in mind for O’Rourke is not exactly clear. Trump’s economy has certainly been strong, with historically high levels of employment among various groups. But it might take a Democrat administration with favors to repay to finally land a paying job for Robert Francis O’Rourke.

Average Americans, including those voting in the Democrat primary, certainly were not interested in O’Rourke’s services, forcing him to abandon his presidential run all the way back in November.

The little-known candidate from Texas had tried to distinguish himself from his primary competition and gain some free media exposure by adopting the most extreme anti-gun platform in the field. He had planned not just to ban America’s most popular defensive rifle but to ensure they were stripped from owners who had obtained them lawfully. O’Rourke’s infamous boast, “Hell, yes, we’re gonna take your AR-15”, even adorned t-shirts his campaign was selling, no doubt to offset his lack of actual contributors.

O’Rourke was also the only candidate to endorse the unhinged gun control “Peace Plan” put forth by David Hogg and his cohorts at March for Our Lives. A scheme that even the anti-gun mass media called “sweeping,” “ambitious,” and “far-reaching”, the Peace Plan is actually a roadmap to ending gun ownership as America currently knows it.

The “plan’s” centerpiece, of course, is a massive ban on semi-automatic firearms, backed by a forced surrender program. But it additionally calls for annual licensing of gun owners (including in-person interviews and mandatory training), government-funded propaganda to scare people out of owing guns, a ban on online sales of ammunition and gun parts, a national firearms registry, and ruinous civil liability for the gun industry.

And those are just some of the lowlights. Because none of this is consistent with the Second Amendment, the plan would promote a “different interpretation of the Second Amendment” through imposing anti-gun litmus tests for future judicial appointees. The U.S. Supreme Court itself would also face unspecified “reform” under the plan, the better to ensure that “structural limitations” did not stand in the way of the court eventually reversing what the plan calls the “excoriated” and “controversial” Heller decision.

Biden’s choice of Robert Francis O’Rourke to be his gun control point man means that any form of gun control would be on the table under his administration, up to abolishing the Second Amendment’s individual right altogether.

It is, in short, a declaration of war against American gun owners, with appointment of one of their staunchest enemies as the supreme commander of the effort.

Of course, Joe Biden is not yet the Democrats’ presidential nominee. He still faces a stiff primary challenger in the likes of Bernie Sanders, himself an increasingly bombastic gun control advocate.

But gun owners should take note that the supposedly “moderate” Joe Biden has now positioned himself to the left even of the aged Socialist when it comes to confiscating firearms from law-abiding Americans and assailing the individual right to keep and bear arms.