Hunter And The Law
It is likely Hunter Biden violated federal gun laws and regulations, both of which are constitutionally illegitimate. Understanding why will help you think like a constitutionalist.
That which is true is not always the same as what is popular. Often, it is not.
Sometimes, out of sheer necessity, one must say what is popular—or at least not openly challenge popular prejudices—simply to save one’s own hide. Hordes, mobs, and the masses don’t like their favorite slogans and slanders being questioned.
Yet, in the long run, truth is more important than what is popular.
Similarly, consistently standing for a principle is different than aligning with a person or a party.
People are flaky. Parties change. Principles do not.
Looking to timeless principles for guidance during troubling times is like navigating by the stars: Even when sailing uncharted waters, one is never truly lost.
Among my missions in life is to demonstrate what it looks like to say what is true—to stand firmly by the principles of natural right, natural justice, and constitutional legitimacy—and encourage my fellow citizens to do the same.
And that brings us to the subject of Hunter Biden. I am going to say something true that might not be popular with some readers.
Hunter Goes To Court
The federal criminal case against Hunter Biden began today in a Delaware courthouse. Before I write anything else, let me make clear that I do not think highly of Joe Biden or the Biden family.
The current President is a model of the corrupt, crony politico that becomes typical in any corrupt, crony administrative state built on regulations, subsidies, and a general view that those in government are perpetual parents because the rest of us are perpetual children.
The current President has never had what ordinary Americans would consider a real job. He has never created new wealth. He doesn’t produce; he takes what others produce. He has been in government for more than half a century, paid by dollars confiscated from tax payers that entire time, while leveraging government largesse and favors to enrich himself and his family, including his son, Hunter.
I am no fan of the Bidens.
Just the opposite: I think the Bidens represent what is wrong with our nation today. Their family photo could rightfully be placed in the dictionary next to the word cronyism. A nation in which the Bidens prosper is a diseased progressive regime, sick with domestic tribalism, corruption, and political oligarchy.
Regarding the current criminal charges against Hunter Biden, it is likely he violated federal gun laws and regulations.
And—here’s where I am willing to say what is true and stand by principle—those laws and regulations ought not exist. They are constitutionally illegitimate.
What’s The Matter With The Laws?
The federal law is 18 U.S.C. § 922, which defines certain actions and transactions related to gun purchases as crimes.
Subsection (a)(6) states: “It shall be unlawful...for any person in connection with the acquisition or attempted acquisition of any firearm or ammunition from a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector, knowingly to make any false or fictitious oral or written statement.”
So how did Mr. Biden knowingly make a false statement while acquiring a firearm?
Answer: Federal regulations issued by the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) require that anyone purchasing a firearm must fill out a Firearm Transaction Record, what bureaucrats refer to as an ATF Form 4473.
That form — #4473 — requires that a citizen purchasing a gun certify truthfully that he or she is not an unlawful user of or addicted to any stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance.
In the certification section of Form 4473, the gun buyer must certify that his answers to the questions on the form are “true, correct, and complete.”
The buyer must also acknowledge by his signature: “I understand that a person who answers ‘yes’ to [Question 11.e] is prohibited from purchasing or receiving a firearm” and “making any false oral or written statement...is a crime punishable as a felony under Federal law.”
Here’s the rub: Hunter is a self-described drug addict.
If he purchased a gun from a licensed dealer, he had to fill out Form 4473 and certify that he was neither using nor addicted to “any stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance,” when in fact he was using and addicted to various drugs, by his own admission.
Federal Laws, Licenses, & Regulations
Set aside Hunter and his many creepy behaviors. Focus instead on the laws, licenses, regulations at the heart of this case.
A good place to begin is the United States Constitution. Go ahead: read the Constitution for yourself. Read Article I, Section 8, which lists the legislative powers We The People vested in our Congress.
We The People delegated to our Congress no power to define actions and transactions related to gun purchases as federal crimes, certainly not actions and transactions that take place within a state. (The Interstate Commerce Clause should not apply to any commerce that takes place entirely within the borders of one state.)
We The People gave to our Congress no power to create the ATF.
If you doubt this, consider: We The People amended our Constitution and explicitly granted power to our federal government to regulate the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. That was the 18th Amendment, ratified in 1919.
A little more than a decade later, in the early 1930s, We The People repealed that Constitutional provision with the 21stAmendment.
That’s right, we passed one amendment to repeal another amendment. After giving the federal government power to regulate the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol, We The People took that power away. We took it back.
So why today is there a federal regulatory agency—the ATF—the name of which begins with Alcohol?
To boot, We The People gave to our Congress no power to delegate to the ATF power to issue regulations that are binding on citizens and have the power of law.
We The People gave to our Congress no power to delegate to the ATF power to require citizens who own, make, purchase, trade, import, or sell a gun to obtain a federal license, federal permit, or any other kind of permission from unelected unionized federal bureaucrats.
The conclusion is inescapable for those who can read and reason well: In a truly self-governing constitutional republic, there should be no ATF Form 4473 and no federal gun dealer licenses issued by the ATF because there should be no ATF.
There should be no 18 U.S.C. § 922 because Congress should not be defining actions and transactions related to gun purchases as federal crimes. We The People gave to Congress zero power—none whatsoever—to regulate any of our weapons or the trades we make in order to buy them or how or when or why we make them.
Again, don’t trust me. Don’t take my word for it. Read the Constitution and see for yourself.
Constitutionally Illegitimate
Wrap your mind around the fact that every law, every regulation, every federal license that is part of the Hunter Biden criminal case, ought not exist because each is constitutionally illegitimate.
There is no Constitutional authority—no Constitutional delegation of power—for any of it.
This is how far we are from being a nation of laws. This is how far we have strayed from the Constitution. This is how far we have strayed from the idea of self-government.
Passing mountains of unconstitutional laws and issuing unconstitutional regulations and edicts that have the power of law—and then selectively enforcing some, usually when it benefits the controlling, elite political class—is not the rule of law. It is the opposite.
The rule of law begins with the rule of the Constitution. The rule of law is premised upon the Constitution because the Constitution is the supreme law of the United States.
If the Constitution is ignored, violated, or redefined by progressive lawmakers and judges to transform the Constitution into the opposite of what it was supposed to be, there cannot be rule of law.
One cannot combine rule of law with violations of the supreme law, the Constitution.
Whether you like Hunter Biden or the Biden family, or not, doesn’t matter, or shouldn’t matter. Yes, he likely violated certain federal gun laws and regulations — we'll soon see how these accusations shake out in court.
AND, the laws and regulations and licenses around which his case revolves should not exist.
Don’t Get Distracted
Or, to be more precise, in a self-governing republic that honors the United States Constitution, they should not exist. In a progressive administrative state, where citizens beg permission from bureaucrats before doing what they want, they should.
Among our great challenges today is the fact that few fellow citizens will pay attention to these fateful matters, these zetetic questions. Instead, they’ll focus on the personalities of those they like, or dislike.
Take note of the few who pay attention to the unconstitutional laws, regulations, and federal agencies around which this case revolves versus the many who chatter endlessly about how much they hate Hunter Biden because they hate Joe Biden, or how much they support Joe Biden because they hate Donald Trump.
The circus of personality politics distracts millions of Americans from a much more important subject: The way progressives have transformed our constitutional republic into a thoroughly unrepublican, undemocratic, morally and constitutionally illegitimate bureaucratic state.
I want to change that. I want to encourage fellow Americans to pay less attention to the personalities and personal vices of political elites, and more attention to the myriad ways our Constitutional institutions have been perverted, undermined, and to a large extent eclipsed.
Help me, please. This is a goal I can inspire, but I cannot achieve alone.