June is Gun Violence Awareness Month. Do you know where your local member of Congress is on strict enforcement of gun laws?
When it comes to Hunter Biden, probably not.
Democratic Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) calls herself “a dedicated advocate for curbing gun violence,” and she has been outspoken in her support for strict gun control, including a total ban on the sale of America’s most popular guns. She tweeted earlier this month that it’s “a time to remember those we have lost to #gunviolence and recommit ourselves to ending this epidemic.”
But when a plea deal was announced on June 20 letting President Biden’s son walk on gun charges with just a misdemeanor and no jail time — a “sweetheart deal,” according to House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) — Kuster had no comment.
She wasn’t alone.
The Hunter Biden case has been in the hands of the Department of Justice since 2019, despite being a largely open-and-shut case of lying on federal forms regarding his use of drugs. As former federal prosecutor, Andy McCarthy wrote after the deal was announced:
“He got the gun. What’s more, he was then seen playing with it while cavorting with an ‘escort.’ (See the New York Post’s pictorial, if you’ve got the stomach for it). Shortly afterward, he and his then-paramour — Hallie Biden, the widow of his older brother — managed to lose the gun near a school. (It was later found by someone else.)
“Those are the kinds of gun cases that get charged by the Justice Department even if the suspect hasn’t, in addition, committed tax felonies [emphasis in original] by dodging taxes on the millions of dollars he was paid, apparently for being named Biden,” McCarthy wrote.
Under the deal, Hunter Biden will plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax charges, enter a diversion program, agree to say clean for two years, and never own a gun again.
“Hunter Biden received a slap on the wrist for engaging in at least two major felony violations of federal firearms law, which together qualify for a sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison,” says New Hampshire attorney Sean List, who represents the firearm industry and is a Second Amendment activist.
“Meanwhile, the Biden administration steams ahead in pursuit of draconian gun control measures, the increased criminal prosecution of firearms cases, and a myriad of unprecedented license revocation actions against law-abiding gun dealers for simple paperwork errors. This is the epitome of ‘rules for thee, not for me.’”
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen co-sponsored a set of rules called “Ethan’s Law,” which would “require gun owners to safely and securely store their firearms.” Throwing an illegally purchased gun into a trash can near a school would appear to violate at least the spirit of the law.
Shaheen’s response to the Biden deal? No comment.
While elected Democrats appear to dodge the question, activists in the gun control and gun rights communities both say Hunter Biden should be treated like anyone else.
“Why should anybody respect any gun laws if the president’s son gets a pass? The American public should be outraged at what amounts to a deplorable double standard,” said Alan Gottlieb, founder of the Second Amendment Foundation.
Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01) “helped pass H.R. 2377, the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2022, to help save lives and stop the epidemic of gun violence in our communities,” according to his website. The law would “safely remove firearms from those who should not have them while preserving an individual’s due process rights.”
Most Granite Staters would say that Hunter Biden falls under the “should not have” a firearm category. What is Pappas’ view of how the Biden administration handled the prosecution of the president’s son?
Again, no comment.
“In a similar gun-charge case, rapper Kodak Black, then 22 years old, was sentenced in 2019 to 46 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to providing an incorrect Social Security number on a federal gun purchase form in order to buy three guns from a Miami-area shop,” the Post reports.
And Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino “was sentenced in 2018 to eight months in federal prison for failing to pay $2.3 million in taxes over five years,” added the Post.
“There are two classes of people when it comes to the criminal justice system: The well-connected political class, of which Biden is a prime example, and the rest of us mere citizens,” said state Rep. JR Hoell (R-Dunbarton) with the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition.
