We expect Breitbart.com and Fox News to misreport things that are contrary to their beliefs but this incident shows just how vile they are. The husband of gun victim Gabby Giffords, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, recently purchased two guns at an Arizona store and posted photos on his Facebook page. So our buddies over at Breitbart.com decided to make hay out of this, claiming that Kelly only posted the pics because they were about to out him.

Not to be left out of the fray, Fox News talking heads Megyn Kelly and Trace Gallagher jumped on the story, naturally taking the Breitbart site’s word for it. Big mistake. They selectively chose a clip from an interview Mark Kelly had done with Wolf Blitzer, who asked about Breitbart’s allegations:

“The conservative news site Breitbart suggested you went public with this decision to buy the AR-15 because they were about to report it. What do you say about that?” “Well, I don’t know anything about who Breitbart is, or anything about his website,” Kelly responded. “We had a plan to go in there to buy a .45, and if we had the opportunity, to buy an AR-15 as well. I don’t know the timing, but we had a plan when we were going to announce that on Facebook.” (source)

Somehow, the whole Hee-Haw gang managed to miss the fact that Mr. Kelly had himself photographed (see above) filling out the background check paperwork. Along with the picture, Kelly wrote this on his Facebook page:

Looks like the judiciary committee will vote on background checks next week. 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 loop-hole. (source)

Mr. Kelly said that he had always planned on turning the AR-15 over to Tucson police. When Gallagher reported on this part of the story, he managed to completely misread the Arizona statute on the disposal of weapons that are voluntarily turned over to authorities. In fact, Kelly never even picked that weapon up from the store and the shop owner has nullified the sale and returned Mr. Kelly’s money.





Then, yesterday, the other show dropped. Mr. Kelly produced a video he had shot when he went in to purchase the weapons. As he drove to the shop, as he asked about the weapons, as he filled out the background check paperwork… the entire event is on film.

The video was posted to Kelly and Giffords’ website, Americans For Responsible Solutions along with the following:

Five minutes and thirty-six seconds…

That’s how long it took me to complete a background check to purchase a handgun earlier this month at an Arizona gun store.

Gabby and I are gun owners, so we know background checks are simple, painless, and meant to keep guns out the hands of criminals and the mentally ill.

But not everyone knows that.

So when I bought this gun, I went in with a pocket camera to demonstrate how quick and easy it is to complete the background check process. I hope you’ll watch it and share it with your friends and family today.

Background checks are a common sense solution to reduce gun violence that everyone should be able to get behind. Unfortunately, we still have a lot of work to do. Sharing this video is one way we can spread the truth about background checks.

I’m glad we’re in this fight together.

As to be expected, neither Fox nor Breitbart has reported on this.

Lost in the manufactured controversy is the fact that the gun nuts and those who represent them were so concerned about Mr. Kelly’s purchase that they had no qualms about digging up every bit of information on it. For folks who say that they are appalled by the very idea of tracking purchases, they sure scrutinized Kelly’s purchase. Breitbart.com even published where and at what time Kelly bought the guns! I suppose all you have to do to get the gun nuts interested in tracking gun purchases is be a victim or a victim’s family member. Then they are happy to spy on and report your every move. Damned hypocrites.

But let’s not lose sight of the point behind Mark Kelly’s simple exercise. Background checks are easy and they don’t take very long. This video effectively kills all those stupid arguments about background checks being an imposition, taking too long, ad nauseum. That is bullshit. There is absolutely no reason why background checks can’t be implemented for EVERY gun sale. Isn’t less than 6 minutes worth an innocent life?

T. Steelman is a life-long Liberal. She has been writing online about politics since 2007. She lives in Western Washington with her husband, daughter, 2 cats and a small herd of alpacas. How can anybody be enlightened? Truth is, after all, so poorly lit…