On Monday, the judge choice for Hunter Biden’s primary federal criminal trial started in Delaware. The Biden boy is accused of a Colt Cobra 38SPL pistol he reportedly purchased and possessed in Delaware in October 2018, along with two counts of bogus claims and one count of unlawful firearm hands. If found guilty of these crimes, Biden could receive up to 25 years in prison.  ,
The situation the trial intends to show is fairly easy. After failing a compulsory drug test in June 2013, Biden was given a year-long drug-addiction battle. In his book Beautiful Things from the year 2021, he openly discussed the idea that, during the time period relevant in this case,” [a]ll my energy revolved around smoking medications and making plans to purchase medications — feeding the beast.” Next, amid this obsession, Hunter Biden purchased a weapon.
Every weapon owner is aware of ATF Form 4473, a form that asks all potential buyers of firearms whether they are legally permitted to possess a gun before closing a deal. One of these questions asks whether the seller is” an unlawful users of, or attached to, pot or any depression, stimulant, opioid drug, or any other managed substance”?
The trial will attempt to demonstrate that Biden correctly answered “no” on his Form 4473 when the accurate response should have been “yes,” and that he thus obtained a firearm that he was not officially authorized to have. In other words, Hunter Biden is not facing charges for being an addict; rather, he is being held accountable for lying about how to use illegal drugs to obtain a firearm and therefore end up with it as a result.
It appeared as though Hunter Biden would evade being held accountable for his actions completely for decades. But, after much public pressure, Biden and the state reached a plea deal that would allow him to avoid almost entirely responsibility for his gun crimes by entering into a deferred prosecution agreement and plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax acts. Such contracts are almost completely unheard of for acts committed with weapon.
To make things even sweeter for Biden, the contract did not even make it clear that he had to cooperate with the state, which is frequently required in plea agreements, especially when severe clemency is being offered.
However, things happened in the springtime of 2023 that shattered the agreement being struck between Biden and the government and altered the environment. Two IRS whistleblowers filed claims that Hunter Biden’s tax officials ingested political meddling in their inspection, which the department of justice officials repeatedly limiting the scope of the investigation. Soon after the IRS reporters came forth, a New York Times analysis revealed that the U.S. attorney’s position on whether to require Hunter Biden to turn down a criminal tax offense as a situation of any offer changed.
Therefore Biden’s team demanded that the plea deal include immunity for “any other national crimes” he perhaps have committed, even beyond the gun and tax- related matters that were the subject of this investigation. The plea deal broke down and was ultimately rejected by the federal judge because this broad immunity request went further than the prosecution was willing to go.
After Hunter Biden’s attorneys claimed that the federal law under which he was charged infringes on his constitutional right to possess a firearm, the case also raised interesting questions about the scope of the Second Amendment. According to Biden’s attorneys, the charges should be dropped based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle &, Pistol Association v. Bruen because there is no “historical tradition” in the United States prohibiting users of illegal substances from obtaining firearms solely on the basis of their addiction ( as opposed to a prior criminal conviction for drug charges, for example ).
Federal courts are divided on the constitutionality of this law, and the case may still be relevant in an appeal if the argument was unsuccessful in preventing Biden’s case from proceeding to trial. If Biden’s argument is successful, it would effectively expand Second Amendment protections to a group of people whose constitutional rights are not currently protected by federal law.
Hunter Biden’s legal troubles wo n’t come to an end when his Delaware trial is over. His indictment for failure to pay taxes from 2016 through 2019 is pending. Additionally, a congressional investigation into Hunter Biden’s lobbying and foreign business dealings is ongoing. Of course, his legal troubles may all go away after the November election, when, if reelected, President Biden would have the ability to pardon him, likely without serious political ramifications.  ,
Andrew Pardue is a Holtzman Vogel associate, and Steve Roberts and Jonathan Fahey are Holtzman Vogel partners.
