The mainstream media is in full defensive mode after Hunter Biden's conviction on federal gun charges; portraying Joe Biden as a sympathetic father figure while downplaying or outright ignoring Biden's support for the gun law in question... along with his failure to mention the conviction when he addressed Everytown for Gun Safety just hours after the verdict was delivered.

The New York Times, along with other outlets like POLITICO, have made the choice to focus on Joe Biden the pained father instead of Biden the anti-gun president. The Times report, headlined, "A Guilty Verdict for Hunter Biden Weighs on a Worried President Biden".

Hunter Biden was waiting for his father on the tarmac.

He had just been convicted on three felony gun charges by a jury in Wilmington, Del., his hometown. His father had hastily rearranged his schedule and rushed up from Washington.

Within hours of the verdict, President Biden traveled home, disembarked from Marine One and embraced his son. The president hugged Hunter Biden’s son and wife, as well, and bent over to kiss the head of his grandson, Beau Biden.

To call the relationship between father and son battle tested is an understatement.

Together they have survived the deaths of Mr. Biden’s first wife, eldest daughter and eldest son. They have weathered the fallout of crack addiction and alcohol abuse that has plagued Hunter Biden as well as several other members of the family. Over the past three years, they have been targeted by Republicans who have accused them of corruption and financial crimes.

But for all of the challenges that have tested them and ultimately brought them closer together, a guilty verdict in a federal courtroom — rendered in the middle of Mr. Biden’s final presidential campaign — is a first.

The NYTimes had an entirely separate story on Biden's speech to Everytown, and its headline included the fact that his address came just a few hours after his son was convicted on federal gun charges, but once again the paper downplayed Biden's avoidance of the topic when addressing his fellow gun control fans. 

Mr. Biden was speaking just hours after his son Hunter Biden was convicted in Delaware of three felony counts of lying on a federal firearms application in 2018. In a statement issued by the White House, Mr. Biden said he would “accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.” He also expressed his “love and support” for his son, who has struggled with drug addiction but who says he has been sober since mid-2019.

Previously, the president had vowed not to pardon Hunter Biden if he were to be found guilty.

He did not address his son’s conviction during his remarks on Tuesday.

POLITICO took a slightly more political angle, at least in its headline "Biden's team was waiting on a Hunter Verdict. That didn't make it easier when it arrived". But it too leaned heavily into the narrative of Biden as a worried parent while ignoring his role as the gun-control-activist-in-chief. 

Biden had been consumed with the trial for weeks and asked family members for updates when he was on a trip to France for the annual D-Day commemorations, according to two of those people not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. The president has expressed guilt over the spotlight his career has placed on his son, going so far as to say he believes it’s contributed to his legal troubles.

“If I weren’t running for reelection, he would have gotten the plea deal,” Biden told a confidant earlier this month, according to a person familiar with the conversation

POLITICO also mentioned that Biden addressed "an event on gun safety" shortly after the verdict was announced, but buried the fact that Biden didn't bring up Hunter's conviction in his speech to Everytown for Gun Safety by offering just a brief sentence at the conclusion of the piece. 

President Biden, who was set to be joined by his family at his Wilmington home Tuesday night, planned to check on his son every day during the trip, which comes in the wake of consequential European elections and includes an appearance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Beyond that, there were not expected to be any changes in his plans. Nor were there alterations on Tuesday. The president and his team did not change his remarks on Tuesday on gun violence. During that address, he made no mention of his son.

One would expect that a president avoiding any mention of his son's hours-old conviction on federal gun charges while addressing a gun control group would get a little more play from outfits like the Times and POLITICO, even if it was just a comment from a Democrat flak offering up a lame excuse for Biden's omission. Apparently even that would draw too much attention to Biden's reluctance to talk about it, so his allies in the press have just decided it's not an issue of any importance. 

I'd say, to borrow one of Biden's phrases, it's actually a big f****** deal. Just imagine the media's reaction if, say, Don Jr. had been convicted of the same crimes as Hunter Biden just a few hours before Trump addressed the NRA Annual Meeting, and Trump never said a word about it when talking to gun owners. That would get at least as much play in the political press as the conviction itself, but there are different rules for the Bidens; maybe not in a Delaware courtroom, but most certainly in New York and D.C. newsrooms.