KIRO NEWSRADIO OPINION

Ross: Unequal treatment in Hunter Biden gun charges is outrageous

Jun 21, 2023, 7:48 AM | Updated: 12:21 pm

hunter biden gun...

WFP USA Board Chair Hunter Biden speaks during the World Food Program USA's 2016 McGovern-Dole Leadership Award Ceremony at the Organization of American States on April 12, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Kris Connor/WireImage)

(Kris Connor/WireImage)

It looks like Hunter Biden has cut a deal with the Justice Department to plead guilty to the various charges against him without doing any jail time.

And that has incensed a lot of people – including the Bellevue-based Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.


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Because as part of that plea deal, Hunter Biden will not be prosecuted for his purchase of a handgun in 2018 when he was getting high on crack. According to the charges, Biden had the handgun for 11 days in October 2018. But under the agreement, instead of being prosecuted as a felon, all he has to do is remain drug-free for 24 months and agree never to own a firearm again.

That’s it.

Alan Gottlieb, head of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, called that deal “an insult to the intelligence of the American people.”

“Why should anybody respect any gun laws if the president’s son gets a pass?” he said.

And that is significant.

Because if Gottlieb, the man who founded the Second Amendment Foundation, says the Second Amendment does not protect a drug user’s right to keep and bear arms and that such people should be considered felons – no exceptions – then you can take that to the Supreme Court.

Because who disagrees with that? The Second Amendment absolutely should not protect people whose judgment is impaired by drug use. And in my opinion, that should include all the judgment-impairing drugs.

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That’s why many states, including Washington, prohibit carrying a firearm where liquor is served. Even with a concealed weapons permit.

So, what’s Congress waiting for? Impose mandatory jail time for any user of intoxicating substances who buys or possesses a firearm, even if he only has the gun for 11 days. And, at the very least, like Biden, upon conviction– he is disarmed for life.

If the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation is serious and the Second Amendment doesn’t protect what Hunter Biden did, that’s a big green light.

Pass the law, close the Biden gun crime loophole, and let the disarmament begin – before any more impaired gun owners get the idea that the Second Amendment applies to them.

Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Ross: Unequal treatment in Hunter Biden gun charges is outrageous