Of course, the president isn’t really acting on principle (in his pardon of his son Hunter) but on the basis of family self-preservation. Nevertheless, as is demonstrated by Nodine-like cases and by simple common sense, there is a principle involved here. The federal statutory subclause at issue is 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), which forbids any person “who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” from possessing a firearm.
The obvious intent of the law is to stop major violent drug running and to keep people from actually carrying or brandishing weapons, much less using them, while under the self-evidently dangerous influence of a hard drug such as cocaine or heroin. It was not meant as a tool for prosecutors to put misdemeanor drug offenders in prison for years on end.
The statute’s language is considerably overbroad. Congress should amend the law to correct both the constitutional deficiency and to rein in prosecutorial abuse. Rather than prohibiting gun ownership or possession per se, the law should ban only the actual bearing of arms while under the influence of, or while trafficking in, illegal drugs.
That way, in response to the travesty of President Biden’s abuse of the pardon power, Congress can do something actually worthwhile.
— Quin Hillyer in Biden pardon is unpardonable, but the gun-and-drugs law does need fixing
Putting Slow Joe and his idiot son on trial for their treasonous acts against the United States of America, would be more beneficial.