Hunter Biden
2013
Image: Wiki
The man above is Robert Hunter Biden, colloquially known as Hunter. He is the oldest surviving child of Joe Biden, the current US President and former Vice President and Senior Senator. In October of 2018, a gun registered to him was discovered in a trash container in Delaware. A man going through the trash, searching for items that could be recycled found it. He reported it to the law enforcement. Of course, it could have been anybody, including a criminal searching for a tool to commit some sort of a violent action.
A report in The Guardian describes the interaction between Mr Biden and police officers thusly:
The website also reported that the gun was thrown in the trash by Joe Biden’s daughter-in-law Hallie Biden, the widow of the president’s son Beau Biden, a former Delaware attorney general who died of brain cancer in 2015.
Hallie Biden and Hunter Biden were then in a romantic relationship, Politico reported. Hallie Biden reportedly returned to the grocery store to find the gun, but could not.
Citing a Delaware police report, Politico said Hunter Biden told officers he used the gun for target practice. Asked if the gun had been used in a crime, he reportedly “became very agitated” and asked if an officer “was intentionally trying to make him mad”.
Asked if he had been doing drugs or drinking heavily, he reportedly responded: “Listen, it isn’t like that. I think she believes I was gonna kill myself.”
So basically according to Mr Biden his then girlfriend - and his brother's widow, too - had thrown his gun into a trash container next to a local store in Delaware. Now whether that is true or not, the fact that a weapon registered to him ended up in that trash container - that fact alone - constitutes a gross violation of gun safety laws. Such laws differ from state to state but making your weapon so easily available to general public would constitute a violation in any state. And rightly so - someone who is not qualified to handle a weapon can gain access to it this way and do major damage. Thus carelessness of this sort is clearly an instance of reckless endangerment - much like leaving your vehicle running with the doors open and keys in the ignition, available for anyone including local teenagers who have yet to learn how to drive it properly to take it on a joy ride.
In addition, according to the same report, Mr Biden had broken the law while applying for the permit to own his firearm. He had answered in the negative to the question as to whether he was using illegal drugs. By now, it is publicly acknowledged by al involved, including Mr Biden himself, that at the time he was indeed an active drug user.
Now do I trust Hunter Biden's version of events. Not necessarily. Drug addicts tend to misdirect blame and are known to lie on occasion, especially in situations they find difficult. But regardless of who had tossed that gun into that trash container - which was utterly irresponsible regardless of whether it was Hunter Biden or his girlfriend - he was the one responsible for the gun being stored and handled safely, at all times.
So was Mr Biden prosecuted for his gun law violations? No. Not only that but the US Secret Service, the government agency responsible for guarding VIP's such as his father, had allegedly stepped into the fray to cover for him. It has requested records from the store that sold the gun, for example. The story is a bit murky but the very fact that a federal government agency ran interference in a situation where a drug addict had violated local (state) gun safety laws is quite telling.
Shaneen Allen
Image: Alejandro A. Alvarez
The woman above is Shaneen Allen, a phlebotomist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On 1 October 2013 Allen, 27 and a mother of two at the time, was indicted for illegally bringing a weapon into the State of New Jersey. That happened after she voluntarily admitted to a New Jersey police officer that had stopped her that she had her weapon on her. The weapon was legally obtained in Pennsylvania where she lived. At no point did she handle that weapon in an unsafe manner.
Allen, who had her young son with her when stopped in New Jersey, was arrested and spent 40 days in jail. She could have faced up to 5 years imprisonment. Thankfully, she was pardoned by NJ Governor Chris Christie. But she faced having her life ruined and was penalized already by serving 40 days in jail.
Allen claims she got her gun after being assaulted, robbed and beaten up twice. Also, she happens to be Black. Not that that matters much to yours truly as he is not inclined to make much of anybody's race - but it must be noted that neither proclaimed defenders of the racial minorities, nor feminists seem to have been very vocal about this case - a case of a Black woman being persecuted over little but using her Constitutional right to keep herself safe.
Now feel free to compare and contrast the treatment that Shaneen Allen had received to that enjoyed by Hunter Biden and his girlfriend. And as always - do your own research, use your own brain, draw your own conclusions.
References
Secret Service linked to incident involving Hunter Biden’s gun – report
Martin Pengelly and agencies, The Guardian, 25 March 2021
Christie pardons woman arrested under gun law
Jacqueline L. Urgo, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2 April 2015
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