There is public evidence that Biden lied about his drug use on a federal background-check form and brandished his gun while intoxicated.
There appears to be plain, public evidence to suggest that Hunter Biden has committed two crimes under 18 U.S. Code § 922.
It is illegal, under that statute, for “any person in connection with the acquisition or attempted acquisition” of a firearm to knowingly “make any false or fictitious oral or written statement…”
It is also illegal for anyone “who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance… to receive, possess, or transport” firearms or ammunition.
Biden appears to have committed the first crime in an effort to carry out the second.
A 2021 Politico report noted that in 2018, Biden “responded ‘no’ to a question on the transaction record [of a gun purchase] that asks, ‘Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?’ Five years earlier, he had been discharged from the Navy Reserve after testing positive for cocaine, and he and family members have spoken about his history of drug use.”
Moreover, Biden wrote in his memoir that he was “smoking crack every 15 minutes,” at the time of the purchase, and there are photographs of the president’s naked son wielding the gun with drugs and drug paraphernalia in the frame.
Politico has also reported that the Secret Service involved itself, asking the owner of the shop where Biden purchased his gun for the related paperwork. The owner — suspecting a cover-up — refused, but Biden was never investigated for, much less charged with a crime.
Others have not been so lucky.
Earlier this year, the Department of Justice issued a press release announcing that Paul Lachappelle of Vermont had been charged with possessing a firearm while being a user of a controlled substance. “If convicted of the charged offense, Lachappelle could face up to ten years in prison,” reads the DOJ statement.
Lachappelle was 26-years-old at the time of his arrest, while Biden, now 52, was 48-years-old in 2018.
Twenty two-year-old Harold Salway Jr. of South Dakota, meanwhile, faces up to a lifetime in prison for being charged with the same crime in conjunction with “Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance, and Use of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Drug Trafficking Crime” last month. Salway is not alleged to have used the weapon at any point, and faces the charge merely for possessing it.
Also in South Dakota this year; 38-year-old Justin Eagle Pipe was indicted for the same crime as Lachappelle and Salway, and faces up to ten years in prison. Richard DeAngelo Norman, a 33-year-old from Augusta, Georgia, was sentenced to 46 months in prison last week for possessing a firearm while being a drug user.
Isca Johnson, a 24-year-old from Tennessee was charged with, and pled guilty to, illegally possessing a weapon while being a drug user after police asked to search his house and he voluntarily consented. They found marijuana, as well as a handgun, and Johnson was sentenced to 21 months in prison in 2020.
It’s difficult to convict someone of lying on the same paperwork (Form 4473) that Biden did, because it is tough to marshal enough evidence to prove guilt. But others, including Marques Young, 22,(who faces five years in prison,) James Williams Jr., 29, (who was sentenced to two,) and Calvin Brady Jr., 25, (sentenced to 37 months) can attest to the fact that it is not a risk-free crime.
His son’s exploits, and luck in avoiding prosecution for them, has not rendered President Biden any more forgiving in his portrayals of opponents of gun control measures as unfeeling, or any less willing to condemn others who have potentially committed firearm-related offenses.
Discussing “ghost guns” (homemade firearms without a serial number) in April of this year, the president that “these guns are weapons of choice for many criminals. We’re going to do everything we can to deprive them of that choice and, when we find them, put them in jail for a long, long time. ” He also called on Congress to make gun manufacturers legally liable for crimes committed with their products.
“Why gun manufacturers?” asked Biden. “Because of the power of their lobbying ability. It’s got to end. End. They’ve got to be held responsible for the things that they do that are irresponsible.”
In February, Biden asserted that “when the [2nd] amendment was passed, it didn’t say anybody can own a gun.”