If Democrats Really Cared About Gun Laws, They Would Pull The Prosecutorial Trigger On Hunter
President Joe Biden loves to preach about a need for gun grabs and unconstitutional gun control but not when it comes to his son and enforcing firearm laws already on the books.
During an anti-gun speech at the end of last week, Biden bragged about his administration’s “zero-tolerance” paperwork fluke policy for gun dealers. He also touted Democrats’ gun control wish list, which passed Congress last year, as “the most meaningful gun safety law in 30 years.”
Most notable, aside from the odd “God save the queen” conclusion, was Biden’s “call to action to do more” to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans.
“I don’t see that this was enough, and neither do you,” Biden said, demanding a ban on semiautomatic rifles.
Less than one week later, the Department of Justice levied two misdemeanor tax charges and one felony gun charge against Hunter Biden, the president’s youngest son.
It’s been apparent since at least 2021 that Hunter lied about his extensive and public drug use on the Firearms Transaction Record (Form 4473) he filled out during a revolver purchase in 2018.
In 2013, then-Vice President Biden joined President Barack Obama in proposing a gun control plan that would force the DOJ to crack down on “people who attempt to evade the
background check system by providing false information.”
In accordance with Biden’s former devotion to “maximize enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime,” Hunter’s actions deserve punishment to the fullest extent of the law, which is up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. A carefully orchestrated plea deal, however, means the younger Biden will face probation for the misdemeanor tax charges but dodged a prosecutorial bullet and jail time for his felony gun charge.
That is a rare outcome for federal firearm felons. As Federalist Contributor Brett Tolman noted, in 2021 “fewer than 1 percent of cases filed by U.S. attorneys in federal court resulted in the kind of pretrial diversion” Hunter received. In 2022, 94.2 percent of convicted federal firearm felons served jail time.
Common sense says activists hungry for more gun control should be outraged that the administration is refusing to fully enforce some of the unconstitutional firearm laws already on the books. But instead of condemning the DOJ’s soft-on-Biden-crime approach, the anti-gun left is remarkably silent.
Hunter’s sweetheart deal theoretically should have been eviscerated by gun control groups, anti-Second Amendment Democrats, and their allies in the corrupt corporate media who constantly complain that the U.S. needs more firearm bans.
Instead, the news about the president’s son was met with either an awkward hush from some of Congress’s most religious anti-gun activists or intense kowtowing from the propaganda press.
Biden predictably refuses to condemn his son for violating laws he once promoted. In fact, shortly after news of Hunter’s charges dropped, the president doubled down on backing his adult child.
“The president and first lady love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life,” White House spokesman Ian Sams said on Tuesday after the DOJ’s announcement.
Biden also posted a video to Twitter featuring gun control diehard Sen. Chris Murphy talking about how to “keep the momentum” of Democrats’ anti-gun agenda going.
Meanwhile, organizations devoted to promoting law-abiding citizens’ rights to firearms rightfully called out the discrepancy on display from the same agencies that partner with firearm retailers to prevent crimes like lying on a background check.
“Under this administration’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy, licensed firearm retailers have had their lives destroyed for paperwork mistakes far less egregious than buying a gun when you are a crack addict,” Lawrence G. Keane, National Shooting Sports Foundation’s senior vice president and general counsel, said in a statement. “They are not serious about reducing gun violence, only scoring cheap political points.”
Democrats’ incessant attempts to strip Americans of their constitutional rights already lack credibility. Their silence on the DOJ’s two-tiered justice system when it comes to the latest Biden scandal should only add to Americans’ skepticism of Democrat-led “bipartisan gun control” measures.
Jordan Boyd is a staff writer at The Federalist and co-producer of The Federalist Radio Hour. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow her on Twitter @jordanboydtx.
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