Biden’s Awkwardness Over Hunter’s Gun Ordeal Far From Over
President Joe Biden has been an anti-gunner for a long, long time. In fact, it’s the one thing about the man that you can truly trust.
His son, Hunter, however, apparently has slightly different views.
Oh, I’m sure he favors gun control, too, but he seemingly has fewer issues than his dad, what with his own gun purchases and all.
One of those purchases, however, has turned him into a convicted felon. The law is stupid, in my opinion, but there was no reason he should have been exempted from prosecution when no one else would be under similar circumstances.
He was and now it seems that he will appeal the conviction. That puts his dear old dad in a bit of an awkward position.
Following the Supreme Court’s summer 2022 decision in New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which expanded constitutional protections for the Second Amendment, Joe Biden said he was “disappointed” by the ruling, arguing it “contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and should deeply trouble us all.”
But it is through the Bruen precedent that Joe Biden’s son may have a fighting chance to challenge Section 922(g), which creates nine disqualifiers for gun ownership, including unlawful use or addiction to a controlled substance. District courts in Texas and Oklahoma, along with a ruling by the Louisiana-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, have flung into question whether Section 922(g) will survive the Supreme Court’s new test.
Jake Charles, a professor at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, said Hunter Biden has a “plausible” Second Amendment claim for the unlawful possession count given the 5th Circuit’s decision in a case known as U.S. v. Daniels. Last August, the 5th Circuit voided Section 922(g)(3), which punishes anyone who is an “unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” in possession of a firearm by up to 10 years in prison.
Yes, there is a certain irony in the fact that Biden the Younger may be trying to justify his actions using the precedent his father decried. That won’t factor into the legal proceedings in any way, nor should it. One isn’t responsible for the sins of their father, after all, and even if Hunter had uttered every word, that doesn’t change what the law is.
But the awkwardness of President Biden’s position isn’t constrained to the precedent he opposed potentially benefitting his son.
Oh no. After so much anti-gun rhetoric, he also is getting blasted for the dichotomy between his position and his offspring’s actions.
Just hours earlier, however, his son, Hunter Biden, was found guilty on all charges in the criminal case focused on his purchase of a firearm in 2018.
The unusual timing of Biden’s gun speech, which did not reference Hunter’s conviction, was mocked by X users shortly after the verdict.
“Joe Biden giving a gun safety speech on the same day that his son was convicted of gun charges is the most Biden thing ever,” RedState columnist Buzz Patterson remarked.
“Of all the days for Joe Biden to be speaking at ‘Gun Sense University,’” conservative commentator Kate Hyde wrote, along with headlines about Hunter’s verdict and his father’s speech.
“Awaiting Biden remarks at ‘Gun Sense University’ before he flies to Wilmington to see Hunter for the first time since his son was convicted on three felonies related to his illegal purchase/possession of a firearm while addicted to crack. Just incredible,” Townhall.com managing editor Spencer Brown reported.
And let’s be real here, we tread on that ground as well, for good reason.
Hunter’s trials and tribulations are salacious enough on their own, but they’re amplified by the fact that he broke a law that his father supports, yet the elder Biden pretends as if its nothing. He and most of the media are trying to pretend this is a non-issue, but it’s going to be a problem to some degree.
The kicker is that Biden could have said that the jury has spoken and that his son is being held accountable for his actions, then gone on about some kind of gun control nonsense to at least look like he understands what’s going on. He probably would have come out of this looking more like a man of principle to those inclined to think favorably of the man. It might have helped him with some undecideds, even.
Instead, he’s pretending it just didn’t happen, that there’s no conflict between the fact that the son of the most anti-gun president in history was convicted of gun charges.
I’d love to tell you that the American people won’t buy it, but they likely will. The mainstream media won’t make much of a thing about it, after all, so it’ll be memory-holed within a few weeks. Only a handful of people will think about it after the conventions and it won’t come up as a question during presidential debates or townhalls. It’ll simply vanish.
But for now, Biden’s in a bad position and we all know it.
Read the full article here