Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Hunter Biden arrives at the federal courthouse on the first day of his firearms-related criminal trial in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 3, 2024.
Editor's note: Shelmichael Singleton is a CNN political commentator, a nationally syndicated radio show host on SiriusXM, and principal at the political consulting firm Global Impact Strategies. He has worked on three Republican presidential campaigns. He is co-owner of the firearms manufacturing company GunsOut, whose clients include firearms manufacturers and advocacy groups, including Gun Owners of America. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion pieces on CNN.
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I vividly remember the first time my brother and cousins and I shot a gun. It was my grandfather’s old Winchester rifle. We were in rural Louisiana, surrounded by damp moss and the infamous smell of magnolias. As the sun lit up the grass and the birds began to sing, we could smell what my grandfather called “morning air.”
Courtesy: Shermichal Singleton
Shermichael Singleton
We were all young then, I was about 7 or 8, but my grandfather thought it was time to help his sons understand the importance of hunting, a deep Southern tradition that recognizes the right to keep and bear arms, just as his grandfather had done for his.
I remember my grandfather telling me that guns were the only way black people could protect themselves and their families from racists who wanted to teach them a lesson. He said, “Once they saw that we had guns and knew how to use them, they stopped bothering us.”
That experience with my grandfather has stayed with me, and it was in that moment that I realized that firearms, regardless of caliber or capacity, are not just “weapons of war,” as President Joe Biden described “assault weapons” (semi-automatic rifles) on Tuesday at the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund's annual conference in Washington, D.C. They are also a way to level the playing field against racists and bigots who dare think they have the power and right to trample the rights and freedoms of someone they believe is superior.
As an adult, I have pursued a sport I truly love and enjoy – competitive shooting – and continue to hunt with close friends while continuing the customs and traditions taught to me by my grandfather. Currently, I am co-owner of a firearms manufacturing company and create top-notch educational and entertainment content focused on increasing awareness of firearms operation, ownership, and firearm culture. My business partner, John, and I have had the opportunity to work with some of the largest firearms manufacturers and gun rights organizations in the country.
The firearms community is increasingly comprised of women and people of color and is believed to be the fastest growing group of gun owners in the U.S. Because of my passion, experience and knowledge about this community, the Second Amendment and firearms, I oppose Tuesday's sentencing of Hunter Biden, which I believe violates the Second Amendment.
I strongly oppose President Biden's continued violations of the Second Amendment and the actions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) under his Administration. I will defend the Second Amendment and its importance to all Americans, including the President's son.
The image couldn't have been clearer when Biden spoke at the Everytown for Gun Safety conference shortly after his son, Hunter, was convicted of three federal firearms charges, effectively making him a felon. President Biden has said he will strengthen federal background checks for would-be gun buyers, yet two of Hunter's felony convictions involved lying about drug use on ATF Form 4473, the form used by federally licensed firearms dealers to run background checks on buyers. It's ironic, to say the least.
Yet Hunter Biden should never have had to answer the drug question in the dossier in the first place, and the U.S. Supreme Court should provide guidance regarding his case over gun control laws that I believe are unconstitutional.
A similar case was overturned by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2023. The court overturned the conviction of Patrick Darnell Daniels Jr., who was sentenced to four years in prison for firearms-related charges. After stopping Daniels for a traffic violation, officers found two marijuana butts and two loaded firearms in his car. Although Daniels' drug of choice (marijuana) was different from Hunter Biden's (who abused crack cocaine), the law targeted them for the same reasons: they possessed firearms while “recently” being “unlawful users or addicts of controlled substances.”
In overturning Daniels' conviction, the court wrote: “Throughout American history, the use of firearms in combination with intoxicating substances has been restricted by law. However, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the government never prohibited an individual who had used drugs or alcohol at one time from possessing a firearm at another time. Although some states prohibited possessing weapons while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, such laws were not enacted until after the Civil War.”
The 5th Circuit found that historical precedent supporting certain restrictions on whether intoxicated people can carry weapons “does not justify taking away weapons from sober citizens solely because of their past drug use,” and the tradition of taking away weapons from dangerous people “does not support this restriction for nonviolent drug users,” the court added.
This is reflected in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), which challenged restrictions on obtaining concealed carry permits. In a 6-3 decision in favor of gun rights, conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that “to justify gun regulation, the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with the nation's historical tradition of gun control.”
The Fifth Circuit overturned Daniels' conviction because the federal government failed to meet its burden in the Daniels case, and I strongly believe that if Bruen follows suit, the Third Circuit will do the same when Hunter Biden appeals.
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I wonder how many men of color have had experiences similar to Daniels' — pulled over for a simple traffic violation, arrested for possession of a controlled substance, and eventually found with a firearm and charged with a felony. Many of these men end up incarcerated or forced to live as felons, unable to work or vote, and forced to struggle with barriers to being productive members of society.
Ironically, if Hunter Biden's case makes it to the Supreme Court, the Court may have a say in what I strongly believe to be an unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment, and a decision on gun rights for people who have used drugs could provide a path to reconsider these men's cases and change their status.
President Biden continues to weaponize the Second Amendment to violate this uniquely American right, but in this case, at least, he may finally be thankful for the Second Amendment if his son's conviction is overturned.
