Some lawmakers say Hunter Biden gun charge should be prosecuted more often

WASHINGTON — Some members of Congress in both parties say the gun charge that the Justice Department used to secure a conviction against Hunter Biden ought to be enforced more regularly.

Legal experts said after the indictment that the gun-related statute is rarely used by prosecutors. A number of senators and representatives told NBC News that ought to change.

“I think they have not been pursuing gun charges. I think we could do a lot to make our communities safer if the DOJ would more actively prosecute gun violations,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, told NBC News.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., also said the firearm charge should be used more often by prosecutors.

“Yes. Of course,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said. “I hear a lot of people will say, 'Well, this is never prosecuted.' Attempting to get a gun and being turned down because of your reckless behavior, technically, is a crime. But it’s not prosecuted because they never get the gun."

"What makes this situation so egregious is that Mr. Biden got the gun, and he had the gun, and he would have had the gun for a while had … his girlfriend at the time not thrown it away,” he continued.

Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, was charged last year with having “knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement, intended and likely to deceive that dealer with respect to a fact material to the lawfulness of the sale of the firearm” that he obtained in 2018. The alleged lie was that he wasn’t an unlawful user or addict of drugs. A jury found him guilty Tuesday.

“A jury found it compelling that he clearly lied on the form while being a drug addict. And he should not have been able to purchase a gun,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly,