As much fun as it is for Republicans to watch Hunter Biden being dragged through the mud in order to ‘prove’ that he lied on a federal form — as if that’s something that should take five days rather than five minutes — the simple fact is that as part of ‘the people’, his right to own a gun is protected by the 2nd and 14th Amendments to the federal constitution. Period.
There are no exceptions for drug users or convicted felons in the 2nd Amendment, just as there aren’t any in the 1st Amendment. You don’t have to fill out a form in order to get permission to speak, nor could such a form be used to deny that right to drug users or convicted felons. Nor could you be prosecuted for lying on such a form if it existed.
That is the heart of the Bruen decision: That the 2nd Amendment must be accorded the same level of respect as the 1st; that the right to keep and bear arms is not some kind of second-class right.
Unfortunately, prosecutions like this one undermine that decision when we should be doing everything possible to strengthen it.
Which is to say, rather than cheering the fact that Hunter Biden is being prosecuted under laws that shouldn’t exist in the first place, Republicans should be working to repeal those laws — or, if they believe there is a need for such laws, to amend the Constitution to authorize them.
I mean, even Gavin Newsom has realized that placing ‘common sense’ restrictions on RKBA requires amending the Constitution. Why is it so hard for Republicans to figure that out?
