One of the persistent idiotic ideas being promoted by anti-gunner politicians and the mainstream media is that anyone can order a firearm online and have it shipped directly to them, no background check or other “safety” measures taking place. These “geniuses” then go on to say that this puts all of us at risk because any nutcase can easily buy a gun online, and more mass shootings are going to happen because of this.
Well, the truth of the matter is that you cannot buy guns directly online and bypass background checks and other legal loopholes where you live.
Don’t believe me? Well, Andrew Tuohy with Omaha Outdoors, who would financially benefit from being able to sell guns directly online, sets the record straight. Tuohy writes,
First came the panic buying of hand sanitizer. Then, people panic bought toilet paper. Now, food shelves are emptying and firearm and ammunition sales are through the roof. The COVID19 outbreak might be bad for the stock market, but it’s certainly been a boon for very specific sectors of the economy. The gun industry, used to such boom/bust cycles, knows how to respond – but other sectors might not be so acclimated.
Here at Omaha Outdoors, we’ve been inundated with inquiries from out-of-state folks – many from California – asking if we can ship them a gun directly. The answer is, of course, no. Despite what politicians and many in popular media claim, you can’t buy a gun online and have it shipped to your house. Well, you could, if you were a federally licensed firearm dealer (or federally licensed curio and relic collector) and your home was your place of business. Other than that, no, you can’t buy a gun online and have it shipped, especially across state lines, to your home.
What you’ll need to do to buy a gun from us is order it on our online store and select an FFL, a federally licensed firearm dealer, during the online checkout process. We ship the gun to the dealer near you – presuming the firearm and its accessories are legal in your area – and you visit the dealer to fill out the required ATF Form 4473 and undergo the federal and any applicable state background checks. Some states might require a waiting period – sure to be a sore point at a time when people feel the need for a gun to protect themselves NOW. Only then can you take your new firearm home.
We’re not alone in noticing that usually anti-gun people are suddenly very interested in having guns. On Twitter, Robert Evans wrote, “The sheer number of normally anti-gun people who have reached out to me about buying a firearm in the last week is wild.”
So, surprise, surprise. Anti-gunners want guns now to protect their toilet paper and are being told the shocking truth that online gun sales don’t skip the waiting period and other gun control measures that they voted for.
The upside, though, is that maybe these anti-gunners are starting to see an upside to gun ownership and will start to vote for gun rights.