Ever since Hunter Biden was convicted on federal charges of possessing a firearm while an unlawful user of drugs (and lying about that fact on the background check forms he filled out when purchasing a revolver), Joe Biden has insisted that he wouldn't be pardoning his son. That all changed late on Sunday when Biden announced he'd issued a full pardon, just a few weeks before Hunter was scheduled to be sentenced for his felony crimes. 

“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son — and that is wrong,” the president said in a statement. 

Biden made the announcement Sunday before getting on a plane to Angola. The decision is a complete 180 from the promises made by Biden administration officials who were unequivocal about whether or not the president would pardon his son. Just last month, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that “our answer stands, which is no."

Despite the president's claims, Hunter isn't the only person who's been prosecuted at the federal level for possessing a firearm while using drugs. Patrick Darnell Daniels, for instance, was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for owning a gun while regularly using marijuana. And while Biden has now ensured that Hunter won't be incarcerated for his crimes, Daniels and other similar defendants haven't benefitted from Joe Biden's largesse. 

And Biden's pardon doesn't just entail wiping away Hunter's convictions. The scope of the president's actions covers any criminal offenses committed over the past ten years, including but not limited to the charges brought by Special Counsel David C. Weiss.

Almost immediately after news broke that the president had pardoned his son, Biden’s decision was criticized on social media.

Republican Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs said, on X, “Hunter Biden is a criminal—but his corrupt father won’t let justice be served under an Administration that follows the rule of law. Joe Biden will go down as one of the most corrupt presidents in American history.”

Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis wrote, on X, “While as a father I certainly understand President (Biden’s) natural desire to help his son by pardoning him, I am disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country. This is a bad precedent that could be abused by later Presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation. When you become President, your role is Pater familias of the nation. Hunter brought the legal trouble he faced on himself, and one can sympathize with his struggles while also acknowledging that no one is above the law, not a President and not a President’s son.”

The pardon itself is bad enough, but issuing it after months of Biden's insistence that he wouldn't interfere with the legal proceedings is the most egregious offense. According to anonymous sources in Biden's orbit, the president's been considering a pardon since shortly after Hunter Biden was convicted on the gun and drug crimes in a Delaware courtroom, despite his public statements to the contrary. 

Joe Biden could have been up front with the American people about his plans to issue a pardon, but that wouldn't have played well for his reelection campaign (or Kamala Harris once Biden was forced out of the race). Biden instead decided to play politics and mask his intentions; not for the good of the country, but to better the odds of a Democrat remaining in the White House next year. 

For all of the claims by Democrats that Donald Trump is a threat to institutional norms, he never issued any preemptory pardons for himself or his offspring. Polis is right that Biden's actions tarnish his reputation and his presidency, especially given his refusal to issue pardons to others convicted of similar charges. It would be one thing if Biden had insisted that the statute in question was unfair or unconstitutional. But Biden's DOJ maintains that the statute is absolutely necessary to prevent dangerous people from legally accessing firearms, and Biden himself has never cast doubt on the efficacy or constitutionality of the prohibition. 

Throughout Hunter's legal odyssey, many Second Amendment advocates (myself included) have expressed their own concerns with the statute in question, and groups like the Firearms Policy Coalition even offered their support if Hunter wanted to mount a Second Amendment challenge to the prohibition. Joe Biden could have hopped on that bandwagon, but instead he chose to engage in a glaring double standard when it comes to "unlawful" drug users possessing guns; allowing guys like Patrick Darnell Daniels to face years in a federal penitentiary while giving his own son a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. 

I'd love to see the statute in question struck down by the Supreme Court, but Hunter's case won't be the vehicle used to declare it unconstitutional. Thanks to Joe Biden's last-minute pardon, Hunter's in the clear. And thanks to Joe Biden's contempt for our Second Amendment rights, other defendants facing the same charges will get no relief from the White House... at least while Biden still occupies the Oval Office.