Arizona – -(AmmoLand.com)- In 2018, Second Amendment supporters saw Martha McSally lose a Senate seat by a very narrow margin to Kyrsten Sinema. She was later appointed to fill the sea held by Jon Kyl, who was appointed after the death of Senator John McCain.
Now, the seat has come up in a special election to complete the term that would have normally ended in 2022. This time, McSally’s opponent in the general election makes now-Senator Sinema look like a Second Amendment champion. It is Mark Kelly, a former astronaut whose wife, Gabrielle Giffords, has become the face of a gun-control group named after her.
In 2013, after the Sandy Hook shooting, Kelly was part of the formation of Americans for Responsible Solutions, a group pushing “red flag” laws and “universal background checks.” The group merged with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence in 2016, creating the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence (which works to defend onerous restrictions on our rights) and a second group called Giffords, which acts as a super PAC.
Kelly has been calling for a wide variety of restrictions. He also has not been above stunts that were of dubious legality. In 2013, a federally-licensed gun dealer refused to allow Kelly to purchase an AR-15-style rifle. According to a report by Breitbart News, the dealer stated that he was unsure about whether the rifle was being purchased for Kelly’s own use or not.
Prior to the purchase, Kelly had been vocal about his plan to buy the AR-15 and hand it over to the Tucson police department. Or, at least he said that was his plan when news of his attempted purchase broke in March 2013. However, question 21(a) on the current Form 4473 notes that only an actual transferee/buyer can fill out the form. Over seven years after that minor kerfluffle, we can’t say whether he was trying to simply save face after being caught exercising rights he wants to deprive others, or if it really was his plan to just buy the gun to hand it over all along.
Whatever happened, the dealer chose to refund Kelly’s money after worrying that the sale could potentially violate federal law. The stunt also put Kelly in potential jeopardy: Under 18 USC 922(a)(6), it is illegal to make any false statement, either orally or in writing to a FFL, in the course of acquiring a firearm. The penalty, according to 18 USC 924, is up to ten years in prison.
In his Senate run. Kelly has downplayed the gun issue. However, his past should ensure that Second Amendment supporters work hard to make Arizona voters aware of his anti-Second Amendment track record. It also looks like the same sort of phoniness from his 2013 AR-15 stunt is also taking place in his Senate run.
Gateway Pundit reports that Project Veritas caught one supporter of Kelly’s run, Angelica Carpio, admitting, “I think he’s trying to be elected and then he’ll implement the measures.” In fact, his campaign site does not go beyond the “universal background checks” and “red flag” laws that Americans for Responsible Solutions called for initially.
By contrast, McSally has stood up for our Second Amendment rights.
In the Senate, she introduced legislation to combat mass shootings that did not attack our Second Amendment rights, but instead took a “Project Exile” approach. She also came out in support of the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, and stood against the threat by Sheldon Whitehouse to pack the Supreme Court.
Mark Kelly’s track record is one of seeking to wrongly punish tens of millions of law-abiding Americans for the tragic shooting of his wife in 2011. Senator McSally, on the other hand, has proven to be a strong defender of our rights. You can check out Senator McSally’s campaign site here, and Second Amendment supporters should also support the NRA’s Political Victory Fund to make sure that Kelly doesn’t succeed in giving Charles Schumer a new ally in the Senate.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
Deceptive democrat caught trying to purchase a weapon as a stunt to prove gun law inefficiency? What else is this moron capable of?
“What else…”? The answer to that question – regarding that waste-of-human-skin Democrat – boggles the sane mind!
Arizona supposedly has the claim of being the most gun friendly state in the union – anyone that lives there who votes for kelly has forfeited that claim. Period.
As far as I know there is nothing illegal with buying a firearm with the intent to gift that firearm to another. As long as the buyer is using their own funds to make the purchase there is no violation of the law with the purchase. Now, if the person, entity, they end up giving it to cannot legally receive the firearm then the buyer now has a problem; but that is separate from the purchase.
Arizona had it’s only scheduled one on one debate last night between Martha McSally and Mark Kelly. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/jVlNXVh5v1g
Clearly, the esteemed Kelly learned nothing from the tragic shooting of his wife by a deranged supporter. And that is two tragedies for him and her.
Arizona voters need to send this anti-gunner to the unemployment line after election day. Eff’em.