Mark Kelly's Video Failed To Show He Was Denied Handgun Purchase, Too

Breitbart News can now report that although Gabby Giffords’ husband Mark Kelly successfully purchased a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun from Diamondback Police Supply on March 5, the gun store had denied his attempts to buy a handgun approximately two weeks before that. 

According to sources, when Kelly first came into Diamondback Police Supply in February he tried to use a Texas ID to buy a handgun and was denied. Then, thirteen days later–on March 5– Kelly walked back into the gun store with an Arizona ID that he used to purchase a handgun. He posted a video of that purchase made with a hidden “pocket camera” recording the transaction to prove that “background checks are easy.”

With the proper Arizona ID, Kelly successfully purchased a Sig Sauer 1911-style .45 caliber pistol. He also tried to buy an AR-15 rifle, but gun store owner Douglas MacKinlay ultimately halted Kelly’s AR-15 purchase due to concerns over whether Kelly could pass question 11a on background check form 4473, since Kelly had publicly claimed he had bought the gun to deliver it to someone else (in this case, the local police department).

On March 31 Breitbart News reported that when Kelly released his hidden video to show that “background checks are easy,” the failed purchase of the AR-15 appeared to have been edited out. Kelly’s apparent failed attempt to buy a handgun at the Arizona gun store in February didn’t make the final cut, either.

In other words, the current structure of our background check system stopped Kelly from buying a handgun once and an AR-15 after that. Kelly’s video hides both of those facts in order to create public pressure for expanded federal background checks.