President Joe Biden used a prime time address Thursday to call for stronger gun control laws. He could demonstrate his own commitment by making sure existing laws are enforced — including against his son, Hunter Biden, for apparent violations.
As Breitbart News has reported, Hunter Biden appears to have lied on paperwork he filled out when purchasing a handgun in 2018 by failing to disclose his problems with drugs. His sister-in-law, with whom he had an affair, allegedly took his gun, wrapped it in a shopping bag and threw it away. According to Hunter Biden’s own text messages, the Secret Service, the FBI, and state investigators apparently became involved — but he was never prosecuted and the matter seems to have disappeared.
As the National Rifle Association explained in 2021, Hunter Biden — appears to have violated several federal firearms laws:
It is illegal for a person “who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” to possess a firearm. Possession of a firearm by a prohibited person is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.
In order to purchase a firearm from an FFL [a gun dealer with a federal firearms license from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives], a buyer must fill out a Form 4473. The form asks, “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?” Hunter answered “no” to this question.
Lying on a form 4473 is two separate crimes. It is a crime when a person “knowingly makes any false statement or representation with respect to the information required by this chapter to be kept in the records of a person licensed under this chapter,” such as the Form 4473. A violation of this provision is punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment. It is also a crime for a person to “make any false or fictitious oral or written statement” to a dealer “with respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale.” A violation of this provision is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.
Moreover, the alleged transport of Hunter’s gun might also have violated a federal law — backed by then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) — against the transport of guns within school zones, particularly if such guns are not carried within a locked container.
The alleged violations, which would have taken place in October 2018, are still within the five-year statute of limitations.
On Thursday, President Biden said: “If you own a weapon, you have a responsibility to secure it — every responsible gun owner agrees — to make sure no one else can have access to it, to lock it up, to have trigger locks.” He also called for expanded background checks.
Before any new laws are passed, we should enforce existing ones, starting with Hunter Biden.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.