Why isn’t former astronaut Mark Kelly in jail for gun crimes?

Bob Owens

Why isn’t former astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, facing criminal charges for gun crimes?

In March, he attempted to purchase a firearm in Arizona with a Texas-issued ID. He was denied. Thirteen days later he came back into the same Tucson, Arizona store with an Arizona ID to purchase a pair of weapons.  

Interesting. There are two things going on here that I’d like to understand.

According to the ATF Form 4473, you can buy a gun in one state while having a primary residence in another state, as long as you do have a valid second residence. For example, if you have homes in Texas and Arizona, you can buy guns in either state, as long as you use the Texas address to buy guns in Texas, and the Arizona address for the guns you purchase in Arizona. That I get.

But we’re not talking about which residence, we’re talking about which ID.

Is it legal to use an ID that does not show your correct home address in an attempt to purchase a gun? It doesn’t seem to me that you can have an ID in one state that says “this is my home address,” and another ID in another state that claims “this is my homeaddress.” Or can you?

Perhaps this is a legal non-issue, but it is certainly seems odd.

The second issue is far more serious:  after attempting to purchase an AR-15 on consignment, Kelly was outted as a hypocritical gun control advocate, testifying in Colorado against the very same firearm he an his wife have shot in the past, and which he was trying to buy in Arizona. Kelly then (improbably) claimed he was purchasing the firearm to show “how easy it is,”  and that he was going to purchase the gun and turn it over to a local police department.

That’s a fun claim to unpack.

I personally suspect that Kelly was buying the firearm for himself, didn’t think anyone would notice his hypocrisy, and claimed he was “testing the system” after he was caught as an excuse to keep that sweet, sweet, lieft-wing foundation money rolling into his gun control group. After all, there aren’t too many job openings for non-famous ex-shuttle jockeys, and you take your opportunities where you can.

But Kelly instead chose to go on the record with the story that he was buying that AR-15 with the express intent on transferring it to someone else. Oops.

What was that question on the ATF Form 4473? Ah yes… 11.a.

Picture 1

It reads:

Are you the actual transferre/buyer of the firearm(s) listed on this form? Warning: You are not the actual buyer if you are acquiring the firearm(s) on behalf of another person…

Lying on a Form 4473, in attempting a straw purchase for someone else, is a federal felony that can get you ten years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine.

Mark Kelly checked “yes,” and either lied to the FBI and the gun store on his form 4473 and was committing a textbook strawman purchase, or he was caught in a huge lie that exposes him as a blatant hypocrite that attempted to purchase the very firearm he would deny others.

We deserve to know whether Mark Kelly is a criminal, or is merely a liar.

http://www.bob-owens.com/2013/04/why-isnt-former-astronaut-mark-kelly-in-jail-for-gun-crimes/

9 thoughts on “Why isn’t former astronaut Mark Kelly in jail for gun crimes?

  1. Why should he follow the same laws the common people have to follow. The law of the land doesn`t apply to those like that f`er – happens all the time with those like him. If you know some one you can get away with murder. Seems they are above the law and are protected when they break the law, just like the cops.

    1. I agree John. Ever since Gabby was shot, I’ve had this gut feeling he was involved somehow. It’s just too creepy to me that he is constantly by her side as if he were Gabby’s ventriloquist and she was the dummy. Just something is not right about this whole situation … at least to me.

      . . .

  2. Kelly’s dog killed a sea lion pup on a beach in California only a month ago. He was let off the hook for a bunch of transgressions in that one: The S.F. Chronicle reported that the dog belonged to his daughter-in-law. But there was no mention as to whom the dog was REGISTERED. Registration was not even brought up. The Chronicle headline read that Kelly had pulled a dog off a sea lion pup (but it was his dog all along.)
    S.F. Chronicle also reported that the dog had “slipped its leash.” Such an excuse for loosing a violent, aggressive animal is childish. Dogs don’t slip leashes when they’re pulling forward towards prey. If a pitbull ever attacks you, your dog, or even an endangered marine mammal, to hear such feeble excuses such as this would make you violently angry. The Chronicle even reported that Kelly’s *pet* was an American bulldog! All you had to see was the musculature of the animal, and the jaw locked on another animal (unbreakable grip) to know that Kelly has what is essentially a drug-dealer’s protection dog.
    This story still makes me want to puke when I hear it. To think that Delta Bravos like Kelly and Giffords are high up in NASA and the U.S. Congress indicates clearly that our government is thoroughly corrupted by MAFIA! I hope a meteor, the size of a golfball, goes through Mark Kelly’s skull at 10,000 MPH. I would fall to my knees and recognize mighty power of God.

    1. If my dog did that the dog would be considered uncontrolable, vicious, and agressively violent. The dog would have been quaurentined and most likely would have been put down.

  3. Personally I don’t think his wife got shot. I think she’s faking it. Call me crazy but her “shooting” is every bit as fishy as Newton and Aurora. Maybe more. I’m not a huge fan of the 9mm round in regards to stopping power but I’m having a hard time believing that a pro gun democrat gets shot in the head and lives, now she’s out there giving speeches but recovering very quickly. Soon she’ll lose the act and be back to normal. Because it’s all bad acting.

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