Three Things Mark Kelly Probably Won't Say on Upcoming Gun Control Tour

As Gabrielle Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly undertake their national tour for gun control beginning July 1, here are three things Kelly probably will not say: 

1. The background check system prevented his purchase of a handgun in February

2. The current background check system prevented his purchase of an AR-15 in March

3. He keeps a “high capacity” magazine in a Glock 9mm.

Regarding the first point, Kelly failed in his first attempt to purchase a .45 handgun from Diamondback Police Supply in Tucson, AZ in February because he brought the wrong ID into the store. Part of the background check laws currently in place require that an individual purchasing a handgun be a resident of the state in which he or she is purchasing it. Therefore, to buy a handgun in AZ you have to have an ID proving you are an AZ resident. When Kelly marched into Diamond Police Supply he showed a Texas ID and they told him they could not sell him a handgun.

Regarding the second point, even with the correct ID Diamondback Police Supply store owner Douglas MacKinlay halted Kelly’s AR-15 purchase because he did not think Kelly could pass question 11a on form 4473 of the current background check system. Question 11a requires a person to acknowledge they are purchasing the firearm for themselves, which is something MacKinlay feared Kelly was not doing. 

Here’s how MacKinlay explained it when he halted Kelly’s AR-15 purchase in March: 

While I support and respect Mark Kelly’s 2nd Amendment right to purchase, possess, and use firearms in a safe and responsible way, his recent statements to the media make it clear that his intent in purchasing the Sig Sauer 5.56 mm rifle was for reasons other than his own personal use. 

Lastly, it seems highly unlikely Kelly will take time out on his gun control tour to talk about the 17-round “high capacity” magazine he keeps in a Glock 9mm–especially since Kelly spoke in favor of banning magazines above 10 round capacity as recently as February. 

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins