Kelly Gun Purchase Axed By Tucson Gun Store

Mark Kelly’s planned gun purchase has been canceled, it has been revealed, after news of his plans to buy an AR-15 “assault rifle” were revealed earlier this month.

As The Inquisitr reported earlier, Guns Patriots newsletter editor Neil McCabe tipped off the right wing blogosphere about the Kelly gun purchase — one seen as hypocritical given wife Gabby Giffords’ prominence as an advocate to eliminate gun violence.

McCabe reported:

“Mark E. Kelly, made purchases which included an AR-15–sometimes described as an ‘assault rifle’–at 3:30 pm on the afternoon of March 5 at Diamondback Police Supply, 170 S. Kolb Street, Tucson, AZ.”

Kelly’s gun purchase had, however, been announced by Giffords’ husband himself on Facebook, and he had then explained that the move was to illustrate the relative ease of purchase of such a weapon:

“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 of it yet but I’ll be turning it over to the Tucson PD when I do.”

But also on Facebook, Kelly’s gun purchase got the no-go — the former astronaut didn’t fail the background check, but he did manage to spook Doug MacKinlay, owner of Diamondback Police Supply.

MacKinlay posted yesterday on the shop’s Facebook page:

“I determined that it was in my company’s best interest to terminate this transaction prior to his returning to my store to complete the Federal Form 4473 and NICS (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) required of Mr. Kelly before he could take possession of this firearm.”

MacKinley said he nixed Kelly’s gun purchase because Giffords’ spouse made statements in the national media indicating he planned to use the weapon “for reasons other [then] for his personal use.”