Biden falsely says electric apprentices ‘don’t get paid’ and flamethrowers illegal

President Biden incorrectly told a North Carolina audience Tuesday that apprentice electricians go unpaid and that it’s illegal to own flamethrowers in the US — blazing a new trail of gaffes as he prepares to launch his re-election campaign.

Biden, 80, routinely calls himself the “most pro-union president” in US history but seemed unfamiliar with the basic details of electrical apprenticeship programs during his speech in Durham.

“Everybody thinks you want to be an electrician, you show up and say, ‘I want to be an electrician,’” Biden said after meeting local members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

“You go to a four or five-year apprenticeship. It’s like going back to school. You don’t get paid until you are qualified fully. It takes four to five years of training,” the president added.

But apprentice electricians are paid during the lengthy training period.

The IBEW, which reps about 775,000 US workers, specifies on the FAQ page of one local branch, “apprentices are paid while working on the job with a participating electrical contractor.

Beginning wages and benefits are good and apprentices receive wage increases based on successful completion of schooling and on-the-job training.”

Other branches include near-identical pay structure information.

The president’s remarks also went sideways when he called for new gun control after the Monday murder of six people at a Nashville school by a shooter reportedly armed with semiautomatic guns.

“We need to act. These are weapons of war. I’m a Second Amendment guy. I have two shotguns. My sons have shotguns,” Biden said.

“Everybody thinks somehow the Second Amendment is absolute. You’re not allowed to go out and own an automatic weapon.

“You’re not allowed to own a machine gun. You’re not allowed to own a flamethrower. You’re not allowed to own so many other things.”

In fact, flamethrowers are available for purchase online, including on the popular shopping platform Amazon — often marketed for weed and snow removal, among other uses.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who is often discussed as a possible 2024 GOP vice presidential candidate, received a flamethrower as a Christmas gift in December and tested out the device in a widely viewed video.

Flamethrowers are prohibited by state law in Maryland but are allowed in most other places.

New York’s state Senate passed a proposed flamethrower ban last year, but the measure didn’t pass the Assembly and the devices remain legal in the Empire State.

At the federal level, former Rep. Elliot Engel (D-NY) attempted to ban flamethrowers, but legislation he introduced in 2016 and again in 2019 failed to pass.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Biden’s incorrect statements.

Biden, already the oldest-ever US president, is expected to launch his re-election campaign as early as next month.

His possible challenger, 76-year-old former President Donald Trump, sought to make Biden’s mental acuity an issue in the 2020 election, claiming the Democrat was cognitively “shot.”

Defenders note that Biden, a self-declared “gaffe machine,” has a record of misspeaking that dates back decades.

Last week, Biden mistakenly praised “China” when he meant to say “Canada” during a speech to the Ottawa parliament and mistakenly vowed to disarm “domestic political advisers” when he meant to say convicted domestic abusers.