White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre just refused to rule out the possibility that the administration of President Joe Biden might pursue a plan that would involve the confiscation of certain firearms from Americans. 

According to Fox News, Jean-Pierre did as much on Wednesday during that day's press briefing.

Before we get to what Jean-Pierre actually said, some context is needed.

Background

On Monday, a 28-year-old woman, who identified as a transgender individual, shot and killed three children and three adults at a Christian private school located in Nashville, Tennessee, a school that the shooter - Audrey Hale - had previously attended. Hale ended up being killed by the police officers who responded to the shooting.

Following the shooting, President Biden did what he always does in such circumstances, that is, try to use the heightened emotions of the tragedy to garner support for the otherwise illogical proposition that Americans' Second Amendment rights are to blame for such shootings and that they, therefore, ought to be taken away.

"I call on Congress again to pass my assault weapon ban," Biden said. "It’s about time we begin to make some progress, but there’s more to learn."

Before making that plea, Biden thought it appropriate to set the mood in the room by joking, "I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream."

What about gun confiscation?

During Wednesday's press briefing, a reporter asked Jean-Pierre whether Biden, in addition to supporting his proposed "assault weapons" ban, also supports the idea of the government confiscating such firearms from law-abiding Americans.

Jean-Pierre refused to answer the question.

She said:

Let me just be very clear: What we're talking about, AR15s, this assault weapons ban, they are weapons of war, and they not be on the streets across the country in our communities. They should not be in schools. They should not be in grocery stores. They should not be in churches. That's what the president believes, and he has done more than any other president the first two years on the executive order.

In such circumstances, when the question - of whether Biden supports confiscating "assault weapons" - can be directly answered but the speaker chooses to go off on a tangent - as Jean-Pierre did - it is fair to conclude that the idea is not off the table - that Biden very well may support confiscating "assault weapons" from Americans.

Jean-Pierre faces substantial criticism

Critics have targeted Jean-Pierre for a number of highly questionable statements that she has made following the Tennessee school shooting.

These statements include one statement in which Jean-Pierre attempted to blame the shooting on Republicans for their unwillingness to support Biden's "assault weapons" ban.

In another statement that has been heavily criticized, Jean-Pierre claimed that the "trans community" is "under attack" - a particularly dubious statement considering that a member of the "trans community" carried out the execution of six innocent individuals. As radio host Clay Travis put it:

A trans person killed six people at a religious school in Nashville. Now KJP says it’s shameful that trans people are under attack. If the narrative doesn’t fit them, they just lie.