Hunter Biden on trial for hitting Joe: a brutal campaign in gun America

In the country in which the number of firearms scattered around the houses exceeds that of the inhabitantsincluding newborns, and with the powerful NRA lobby that has always opposed limits and controls on their sale with the full support of Republicans, Hunter Biden would never have been indicted for obtaining a gun while using drugs, if he hadn’t been the president’s son.

In a period of brutal conflict between Democrats and Republicans and with the Trumpians looking for revenge for the numerous indictments and early convictions of their leader, Hunter has been dehumanized by The Donald’s fans and by Fox News, their megaphone. The president’s son would probably never have been tried for behavior during the years of his life as a drug addict which he himself recounted in his autobiographical book if the Republicans hadn’t come down hard on the Ministry of Justice, accused of protecting an “excellent” character. Pushing prosecutors first to withdraw a plea offer which included a guilty plea by Hunter without prison sentences, then Biden’s Justice Minister, Merrick Garland, to give “full powers” to a super prosecutor.

Now that Hunter theoretically faces 25 years in prison after the jury’s quick conviction for three essentially coinciding crimes (10 years for having falsely declared, not to be drugged, in a gun request form and another 10 for having illegally possessed this gun for a few days in 2018) , it is the Republicans themselves who distance themselves from the sentence: some for fear that the Hunter case will be used to promote gun restrictionssome because now want to shift focus to the other charges brought against the president’s son – especially tax evasion – and for which he will be tried separately in California.

If for the possession of weapons Biden’s son could also get away without a prison sentence as a citizen with no criminal record until now, a second conviction would certainly have more serious consequences for him. And if the Foxwho today considers the sentence questionable, for weeks has criticized Hunter’s guilt, going as far as accusing Joe of having been a bad fatherunable to prevent his problem son from falling into drug addiction, Trump’s campaign raises the bar by shifting attention to another front, always with the aim of hitting the president above all: «This sentence is misleading: a way to distract public opinion from the real crimes of Hunter and the Bidens are the millions they received from Russia, China and Ukraine.”

Now that the indictments for illegal acquisition of a weapon – a .38 caliber Colt Cobra – have become a conviction, many Republican representatives, led by South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, consider the sentence excessive, capable of being exploited in the future, a bad signal for American justice.