Hunter Biden's lawyers this week asked a federal judge in Delaware to dismiss the three gun charges against him, all of which are based on his purchase of a revolver in 2018, when he was a crack cocaine user. They claim the president's son is a victim of "selective and vindictive prosecution" driven by political pressure on Special Counsel David Weiss from Republican members of Congress, which they argue also violates the separation of powers. But in making that case, the motion notes that the federal ban on gun possession by illegal drug users is constitutionally dubious, widely flouted, and rarely enforced.
Biden's gun purchase violated 18 USC 922(g)(3), which makes it a felony for "an unlawful user" of "any controlled substance" to receive or possess a firearm. And since Biden falsely denied illegal drug use on the form he filled out when he bought the gun, he also is charged with violating 18 USC 922(a)(6), which applies to someone who knowingly makes a false statement in connection with a firearm transaction, and 924(a)(1)(A), which redundantly applies to someone who "knowingly makes any false statement or representation with respect to the information" that a federally licensed dealer is required to record.
