If President Joe Biden is serious about "commonsense gun safety measures," he'd call for the arrest of his son, Hunter, immediately.
Hold up a second. Before we get too far into this column, can we short-hand this whole "commonsense gun safety measures" thing?
We all know that phrase is a little... cómo se dice... lengthy, isn't it?
You see, the same laws and restrictions to your Second Amendment rights that Democrats have proposed for several decades are now re-branded as "commonsense gun safety measures." Back in the day, we all called them what they were: gun control laws.
But, somewhere along the way, some genius political marketing firm earned their millions of Democrat dollars by focus-testing that and recognized it didn't play well with an important voting bloc out there known as "Americans." So instead of "gun control," they moved us to not just "gun safety," but they added the sexy modifier "commonsense" to their new brand. And they did away with "laws" because that sounds a little too authoritarian. Now they're just "measures."
It's amazing... everything else the federal government legislates is referred to as a law except when it tries to infringe on your constitutional right to bear arms. Then they're not laws... they're just measures.
But, for the sake of expedience in this column, can we call it what it is? Gun control laws.
Just as President Biden moves to push new gun control laws through his narrow six-seat majority in the House and his 50/50 even split in the Senate, we learn that his son, Hunter, is the poster child for how ridiculous these gun control laws are.
You see, if a nefarious person, say an erratic drug addict, for example, is hell-bent on breaking various laws of our country, what makes anyone think that additional laws pertaining to gun ownership are going to dissuade them from doing whatever the heck they want?
Here's a person who is perfectly fine with buying illicit drugs, possessing illicit drugs, using illicit drugs... not to mention flouting laws regarding driving while intoxicated, possession of drug paraphernalia, illicit possession of a law enforcement identification, corrupt political cronyism, and acting as an unregistered foreign lobbyist. What makes Biden, the Democrats, or anyone else think that this habitual criminal will suddenly balk when faced with a legal prohibition of purchasing or possessing a certain weapon?
And just yesterday, the day after his dad proposed his new gun control laws, we've learned of even more laws Hunter doesn't care about. And these existing laws all happen to directly relate to purchasing and possessing a firearm.
Politico (hardly a right-wing hit factory) has the remarkable details of this escapade:
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.
In the journalism business, that paragraph is referred to as "a hell of a lede!" Our amazing Katie Pavlich summarizes the story in her inimitable way, but at first glance, it appears the entire drama describes several gun laws that have been violated by the president's son.
1. He dodged a background check in obtaining his firearm, despite his well-known drug use, probably by illegally lying on the application form.
2. Storing a weapon in an accessible part of his vehicle. His girlfriend found it in his truck, and by Delaware law, you can only transport guns in a trunk or another inaccessible location (trucks don't have trunks).
3. Carrying a gun within 1,000 feet of a school.
4. Improper disposal of a firearm.
5. Losing the gun by carelessly dumping it in a public trash can might not be technically against gun laws, but I think it could fall under the broad umbrella of "reckless endangerment," don't you?
As with all of the other laws we know Hunter Biden has broken over the years, the president's son has not been called to face justice and pay a legal price in our criminal justice system for any of these violations. He hasn't even been brought in for questioning.
If someone wants to complain about white privilege and racial bias in our criminal justice system, perhaps they should begin with Hunter Biden.
Ultimately though, this isn't about the sad and tortured life of Hunter. It's about his enabling father, the president, wanting to limit law-abiding Americans from obtaining the firearm of their choice while he continues to protect his scofflaw son from any criminal scrutiny. It's obscene.
Let's see if President Biden is as serious about gun control laws as he claims to be.
Mr. President, before you propose one new "commonsense gun safety measure," you should insist that our current "commonsense gun safety measures" be taken seriously and enforced.
Mr. President, call for the immediate arrest of Hunter Biden.
Larry O'Connor hosts a 2-hour radio program on KABC in Los Angeles and a separate, 3-hour radio program on WMAL in Washington DC. Both shows are heard daily, Monday through Friday and the podcasts can be found here.
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