McAuliffe Worries Virginians 'Buy Guns Through Mail Order' to Avoid Background Checks

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe expressed concern that Virginians “can buy guns through mail order” to avoid background checks in his debate Wednesday with opponent Ken Cuccinelli.

According to the transcript printed in the Washington Post, McAuliffe was justifying his desire to pass more gun control when he said Virginians can circumvent background checks by “[buying] guns through the mail order.” 

This reference to “mail order” purchases is a perpetuation of a myth that a citizen can get on the Internet, go to a gun store website, find a gun, and have it mailed directly to them, thereby avoiding a background check. Progressives who espouse this myth either have no idea how gun sales work or they hope their listening audience is unbelievably gullible. 

In the real world–and Virginia is part of the real world–guns sold over the Internet have to be mailed to a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder. In other words, if a Virginia resident gets online and buys a custom AR-15 from Red Jacket Firearms in Louisiana, that gun is shipped from an FFL to an FFL in Virginia. Once the FFL in Virginia has the firearm, they contact the buyer, who then comes to the store and goes through a background check before he or she can take possession of the firearm. 

This is the law of the land. McAuliffe’s claims to the contrary are just part of the standard liberal tactic of trying to create a problem that doesn’t exist so more laws can be passed to solve it–more gun control laws, that is.  

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.