It’s ‘Common Sense’ to Prosecute Hunter Biden for His Gun Crimes

Politico reports that Hunter Biden may have lied on Form 4473 while buying a gun in 2018, and that, some time later, his girlfriend threw that gun into the trash can across the street from a school:

On Oct. 23, 2018, President Joe Biden’s son Hunter and daughter in law Hallie were involved in a bizarre incident in which Hallie took Hunter’s gun and threw it in a trash can behind a grocery store, only to return later to find it gone.

Delaware police began investigating, concerned that the trash can was across from a high school and that the missing gun could be used in a crime, according to law enforcement officials and a copy of the police report obtained by POLITICO.

. . .

Hunter responded “no” to a question on the transaction record 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.

Lying on the form is a felony, though prosecutions for it are exceedingly rare.

For those who don’t know, Form 4473 is a mandatory piece of paperwork that everyone who purchases a gun from a commercial dealer must complete (along with an instant background check). Form 4473 is designed to ensure that the purchaser is eligible to buy a firearm; to confirm that he is buying the firearm for himself, as opposed to on behalf of someone else; and to create a record of the sale that is kept by the gun store and the purchaser, but not by the government. Among the questions on 4473 are:

• Are you the actual transferee/buyer of the firearm(s) listed on this form and any continuation sheet(s)?
• Are you under indictment or information in any court for a felony, or any other crime for which the judge could imprison you for more than one year, or are you a current member of the military who has been charged with violation(s) of the Uniform Code of Military Justice and whose charge(s) have been referred to a general court-martial?
• Have you ever been convicted in any court, including a military court, of a felony, or any other crime for which the judge could have imprisoned you for more than one year, even if you received a shorter sentence including probation?
• Are you a fugitive from justice?
• Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance? Warning: The use or possession of marijuana remains unlawful under Federal law regardless of whether it has been legalized or decriminalized for medicinal or recreational purposes in the state where you reside.
• Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective OR have you ever been committed to a mental institution?
• Have you ever been discharged from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions?
• Are you subject to a court order, including a Military Protection Order issued by a military judge or magistrate, restraining you from harassing, stalking, or threatening your child or an intimate partner or child of such partner?
• Have you ever been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, or are you or have you ever been a member of the military and been convicted of a crime that included, as an element, the use of force against a person as identified in the instructions?
• Have you ever renounced your United States citizenship?
• Are you an alien illegally or unlawfully in the United States?

It seems almost certain that Hunter Biden lied when answering the question, “Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?” He was discharged from the Navy Reserve for drug use in 2013; has had constant drug addiction problems since that time, including repeated stints in rehab; continually characterizes himself as an “addict” (he is launching a book on the topic in April); and, in 2019, was kicked out of a strip club for smoking crack. Which matters, because under federal law it is a felony

for any person in connection with the acquisition or attempted acquisition of any firearm or ammunition from a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector, knowingly to make any false or fictitious oral or written statement or to furnish or exhibit any false, fictitious, or misrepresented identification, intended or likely to deceive such importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector with respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale or other disposition of such firearm or ammunition under the provisions of this chapter . . .

The punishment for this crime is up to ten years in jail.

Politico notes that “prosecutions for it are exceedingly rare,” which is true. But this raises more questions than it answers — among them: “Why is this true?” “What is the point in Form 4473 if it’s ignored?” And “Why, given that we are not bothering to prosecute people who lie about being eligible to own guns, is Joe Biden so keen to add new gun-control laws to the books?”

Over and over again, Joe Biden and his party insist that we need to add more bureaucracy into the gun-buying process. Indeed, were “universal background checks” to be imposed upon the 37 states that have thus far declined to add them, Form 4473 would be a part of every single gun transaction — including, in many cases, wholly non-commercial transactions. Why, if it’s so obviously pointless?

I do not envy the position that Joe Biden is in with his son. But he is the president of the United States now, and he is using his position to call for much stricter laws to regulate the exercise of an explicit constitutional right. If he wants to show that he is serious — and, more important, if he wants to show that he’s not trying to create a confusing thicket of rules that will end up being enforced capriciously — he should be in favor of investigating and, if necessary, prosecuting his son and his friends. It is a federal felony to lie on Form 4473. Joe Biden supports this. It is a federal felony to possess a gun while one is a drug addict. Joe Biden supports this. It is a federal felony to bring a firearm within one thousand feet of a school. Joe Biden not only supports this, he wrote the law.

If only Biden knew someone in the White House who could ensure that such violations were more rigorously prosecuted. Surely, it’s just “common sense”?

Or maybe, just maybe, this is harder than it looks.