Special counsel David Weiss has charged Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, with two counts of making false statements and one count of possessing a firearm while being addicted to narcotics. Each count of making false statements in relation to the possession of a firearm carries a prison sentence of up to ten years in prison. However, the third count of possessing a firearm while being addicted to illegal substances carries a prison sentence of up to five years. Additionally, each count also carries a fine of up to $250,000.
Special counsel David Weiss filed each of the charges in Delaware while Hunter Biden is reportedly in California. According to Biden’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, adds that an agreement regarding his client’s surrender and first court appearance has not yet been worked out.
“As expected, prosecutors filed charges today that they deemed were not warranted just six weeks ago following a five-year investigation into this case,” Lowell said.
“The evidence in this matter has not changed in the last six weeks, but the law has and so has MAGA Republicans’ improper and partisan interference in this process. Hunter Biden possessing an unloaded gun for 11 day was not a threat to public safety, but a prosecutor, with all the power imaginable, bending to political pressure presents a grave threat to our system of justice.”
The charges levied against Hunter Biden are the result of a five-year investigation that ranged from his possession of a gun to his business dealings in Europe. An agreement between Biden and federal investigators was reportedly in the works, but fell apart during the summer. Of the three charges that resulted from the deterioration of the deal, two fall on what has been described as shaky constitutional grounds. Recent court rulings in a trio of southern states call into question whether or not those struggling with substance dependency should have access to firearms.
“In short, our history and tradition may support some limits on an intoxicated person’s right to carry a weapon, but it does not justify disarming a sober citizen based exclusively on his past drug usage,” Circuit Judge Jerry Smith stated last year.
“Nor do more generalized traditions of disarming dangerous persons support this restriction on nonviolent drug users.”
With that said, Smith’s ruling along with others across the South displays precedent, but it does not have official legal barring on Delaware’s records.
