Oh, Now Waitaminute!
Suddenly, Hunter Biden’s Gun Case Defense Goes Constitutional
Dave was sitting in camp listening to the news one evening last month
when a report about Hunter Biden’s defense strategy against a gun
law violation almost ruined the sunset.
If the past three years have taught us anything, it’s that the guy in the White House has some pretty radical views on the Second Amendment. So when his son’s attorney declared (with a straight face!) that his client will probably beat the gun charges against him because they are “likely unconstitutional,” it might be time to check if you’ve arrived in the alternate universe of hypocrisy.
I was sitting in a makeshift, solitary camp on the evening before the fall grouse opener (more about that in a minute), enjoying the sunset and listening to a news report when the announcer revealed how attorney Abbe Lowell had offered this defense for Hunter’s felony gun charges: He expects the charges to be dropped before trial because the statute may not pass the constitutional smell test, based on an appeals court ruling this past summer relating to guns and drug use. Sure, his client asserted on the federal Form 4473 that he was not a habitual drug user when he bought a Colt revolver in .38 Special. That’s a fib, and it’s a felony.
Therein lies a dilemma for gun rights activists. They dislike the law, but it’s evident they dislike the Biden family and how Hunter has been getting extraordinary treatment during his legal dramatics even more. Apparently, some folks don’t think gun ownership should be restricted based on drug use, but the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms took an interesting perspective on the whole affair, and it makes sense.
In a news release, CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb observed, “This is really the only thing that counts; whether Hunter Biden was heavily using drugs at the time of the gun purchase is not the issue, and we can’t lose perspective on this. The president’s son may have other demons with which to deal, but this case is about providing false information on a gun purchase form, which is a federal crime, and which is made explicitly clear on the Form 4473.”
However, there is no small irony — actually, it’s bizarre — in the fact that the son of Joe “I wanna ban assault weapons and 9mm pistols” Biden will apparently fight his federal charge on constitutional grounds; you know, the same Second Amendment his dad has been trying to erode since arriving on Capitol Hill about 50 years ago.
A long-gone Seattle radio announcer had a term for this some 40 years ago: “Weirder than skaditch!” I’m not sure what “skaditch” was, but it had to be something way out in the weeds.
Pants On Fire!
Having made a career out of reporting on gun politics, the Biden case would make a great script for a movie spoof. Joe got poked pretty hard recently by Gottlieb and the CCRKBA when his son’s indictment on the gun charge was revealed.
“Joe Biden has been lying about guns for years,” Gottlieb said. “We can’t list all of Joe Biden’s canards about guns, but the few real whoppers include his claim that the Second Amendment prohibited people from owning cannons, for which even the Washington Post Fact Checker called him out.”
Then there was that prevarication about the effect of a 9mm bullet on the human body, reported by Newsweek in May 2022. The story explained Biden’s claim he had chatted with a trauma surgeon about gunshot wounds, asserting this unidentified doctor told him, ‘A .22-caliber bullet will lodge in the lung, and we can probably get it out, may be able to get it, and save the life. A 9mm bullet blows the lung out of the body.’”
“Let’s face it,” Gottlieb said at the time, “Joe Biden has lied about guns for his entire adult life, and now, according to the federal indictment, his son allegedly has the same problem. This time, it has led to a criminal charge, and we’ll just have to see how this shakes out in court.”
Something Remarkable
In the middle of this sitcom, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced her ban on open and concealed carry — essentially suspending the Second Amendment in the process — in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo County.
Federal lawsuits sprang up like weeds, and within days, she backed away from the order, limiting her restrictions to public parks and places where children might gather. It was still unconstitutional, according to critics.
Angry gun owners gathered to protest in Albuquerque, and something remarkable happened. Actually, something didn’t happen. CCRKBA’s Gottlieb noted these armed protesters didn’t burn anything, there were no vandalism reports, nobody’s traffic was blocked, and nobody was arrested.
“What a stark contrast to the violent ANTIFA demonstrations and urban rioting we have seen in recent years,” he said. “Instead of setting fires, these gun owners set an example … The country has now witnessed an example of just how far anti-gun extremists are willing to go in an effort to push their agenda. This should alarm every American citizen, and not just the law-abiding gun owners in Albuquerque who peacefully exercised their First Amendment right to defend their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, showing the nation in the process they’re the good guys.”
Thirty minutes into this year’s Washington grouse season, Dave
followed through on a self-imposed challenge to start the hunt
with a handgun. That’s a fat fool hen and a deadly accurate Ruger MKIV pistol.
Meanwhile, In the Woods
All of this did not distract me from fulfilling a mission reported in this column some weeks ago regarding hunting grouse on the opener with a .22-caliber pistol.
For this exercise, I grabbed my Ruger MKIV as I headed out the door to drive the 70 miles to my “secret spot,” camp overnight and attack those rogue fool hens as soon as the sun was up. But, I had an edge, thanks in part to my colleague Jeff “Tank” Hoover and his former editorship Roy Huntington. Call it the “magic bullet.”
A couple of months ago, Tank wrote about a little gadget Roy cooked up, which enables guys like me to file off the front end of a .22 Long Rifle RNL bullet so it is flat. Tank and Roy both said such projectiles hit harder and knock ‘em down for the count. Naturally, I had to see this for myself, and Roy obligingly made one of these little units for me, even inscribing my initials.
Roy Huntington’s .22-caliber bullet die did the trick for Dave’s opening morning fowl buster.)
One inserts the cartridge, the bullet nose extends out the other side of this die, and you give it a few strokes with a file.
Recall how I reported I had “talked myself into” this, and 30 minutes into the 2023 grouse season, after pressing the trigger once with decisive results, I talked myself right back out of the idea, mission accomplished. That hooter hit the ground deader than the bacon I’d eaten for breakfast. I texted Roy a message with an image of the pistol and my bird, telling him, “It works!”
This happened when I came across about eight birds just off an old logging road. A few of them flushed in several directions, but I heard one hooting at me from a tree, about 15 feet up and maybe 25-30 feet away. Turning my head slightly, I saw the bird staring at me — they don’t call them “fool hens” for nothing — and in one slow, smooth motion, I raised my pistol, flipping off the safety and cut loose, taking him just under the neck.
For the rest of the season, I’m sticking with the shotgun. Maybe. Well, probably not.
We’ve Got Mail
Responding to my column on carrying a sidearm in predator country came this note from a reader from Idaho:
Re: some of your recent stuff online…
“Cougar attacks are rare.” But not nonexistent.
A good reminder, as spouse and I just took a two-lane drive through backcountry Washington from Boise to Pacific Beach. I’m a small-stature guy who has had a CCW since 1976 (Maine, then Idaho), was a reserve patrol officer for 9 years, and whose full-time career locale was a non-permissive environment with NO security provided. I carry a 1 5/8” North American 5-shot .22 Mag, but in the woods, I bring bigger and did so on our trip. Although I now reload, I carried HSM .357mag 180-grain Bear Load in my Blackhawk on this trip.
I’ve never seen a mountain lion, though 7 years ago, my wife saw one in the field opposite the patio of our condo. And then yesterday we had this visitor, who I saw at 7pm when I went out to call our two house cats home. I’d guess she was twice the size of our 14 lb. male cat. We watched her stalk and catch a mouse, then leave.
Ok now, grouse hunting with a .22. I think the complainers are of the “I’m not skilled enough to do that so it shouldn’t be allowed” type of person.
Sadly, they may make the rules …
You and Dr. (Will) Dabbs are my two must-reads in GUNS. Keep up the good work.
Steve Palley RN Emeritus
Boise, ID
Dave replies: Great to hear from you, Steve, and I admire your ammunition choice for that Ruger Blackhawk. I’ve got a North American 5-shooter in .22 Magnum as well. I’ll be writing about it shortly, so keep your eyes peeled. Thanks for the interesting photo, and for reading Insider Online!
