President Joe Biden pushed gun control for Americans on Wednesday and, on that same day, agreed to release a convicted arms dealer via a prisoner swap with Russia.
Breitbart News reported early rumors that Biden might swap Russian gun-running supervillain Viktor Bout for U.S. citizen Brittney Griner.
Bout is a flamboyant arms dealer in his mid-50s with Russian military training. He became a billionaire by raiding the armories of the collapsing Soviet Union in the early 90s and using old Soviet cargo planes to transport his black-market weapons to conflict zones around the world. His gun sales have included weapons to every bad actor from al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, to both the Taliban and its enemies in Afghanistan.
FILE – Alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout looks out from inside the detention center while waiting for a hearing on extradition to the United States charge at criminal court on May 19, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. Russia has freed WNBA star Brittney Griner on Thursday in a dramatic high-level prisoner exchange, with the U.S. releasing notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, File)
Following Bout’s 2011 conviction, then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said, “As the evidence at trial showed, Viktor Bout was ready to sell a weapons arsenal that would be the envy of some small countries. He aimed to sell those weapons to terrorists for the purpose of killing Americans. With today’s swift verdict, justice has been done and a very dangerous man will be behind bars.”
On December 8, CNN noted the swap of Bout has been swapped for Griner, and that Griner is on a plane headed back to the USA.
CNN’s report on Griner being swapped for the Russian arms dealer came just hours after Biden spoke at the 10th Annual National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence.
Breitbart News reported Biden speaking at the gun control vigil, saying, “Our work continues to limit the number of bullets that can be in a cartridge, type of weapons that can be purchased and sold, attempt to ban ‘assault weapons,’ a whole range of things that are just commonsense.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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