By Sergio Arellano-Oros
While Mark Kelly is scrambling to defend his purchase of an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and a pistol a week ago on March 5, at in Tucson at Diamondback Police Supply. What has people more outraged than the purchase is the apparent hypocrisy of Kelly and the use of his wife in his effort to promote what he had hoped would be a bright political future.
Supporters and friends of Gabby Giffords and critics of Kelly’s seem to be united in their efforts to expose what they believe is the manipulation of Giffords. As a result, a picture of a smiling Gabby Giffords was given to a popular Tucson radio host and frequent commentator on the BBC and Fox, James T. Harris.
Harris shared the photo of Giffords with his listening audience on 104.1 The Truth FM. In an opinion piece on the matter Harris asked, “What is wrong with this picture? Absolutely nothing, and prior to the aggressive progressive opportunistic fear mongering in the wake of Sandy Hook, this picture would have raised no eyebrows and garnered little public attention.”
The outrage is now reaching across the country and causing many to question Kelly’s tortured explanation of his purchase to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. After the picture of Kelly’s purchase emerged on Facebook and in Brietbart, Kelly went into full damage control and told Blitzer that he bought it “to have firsthand knowledge about how easy it is or difficult it is” to purchase such a gun. “For a weapon that’s so deadly and really designed for the military, especially with the high-capacity magazines, … it’s too easy. It really shouldn’t be.”
Kelly then claimed that on his Facebook page that he plans to give the gun to the Tucson Police Department. “I just had a background check a few days ago when I went to my local gun store to buy a 45. As I was leaving, I noticed a used AR-15. Bought that too. Even to buy an assault weapon, the background check only takes a matter of minutes. I don’t have possession yet, but I’ll be turning it over to the Tucson PD when I do. Scary to think of people buying guns like these without a background check at a gun show or the Internet. We really need to close the gun-show and private-seller loophole,” he posted on his page.
Katie Pavlich of Townhall.com wrote of Kelly’s response on the gun purchase application that he would not transfer the gun to another party, “When you purchase a firearm at a federally licensed dealer, you must fill out an ATF 4473 form. It is a felony to lie on the form and say you are purchasing a firearm for yourself when it’s really for someone else, but Kelly did it anyway.”
The photo Harris released was taken at a gun range “facility” in Tucson. He said that according to his source, Giffords personally requested the photograph after shooting the AR-15.
The Arizona Daily Star reported that “Kelly had gone to the store a couple of weeks ago, but he did not have “a government-issued photo ID that showed current residence address, date of birth and proof of Arizona residency. Kelly only recently moved to Arizona from Houston. The Star reported that Doug MacKinlay, owner of Diamondback Police Supply, 170 S. Kolb Road, said a background check on Kelly was done when he bought the handgun, and when he returns to pick up the AR-15 a federal background check will have to be done.
Harris’s Facebook page is replete with comments questioning Kelly’s exploits. One Facebook “friend” wrote, “She looks really happy holding that. I also remember when she was a proud supporter of gun rights… Then Mark started making decisions for her.” Another complained, “I feel really bad for gabby. It’s simple exploration. I never agreed with her politically but she is obviously being manipulated for political gain. The media would be all over this if she was a conservative.”
To read the full text of Harris’s article click here.