Philly columnist buys AR-15

[Flip Wilson]

A columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer went to a gun shop in Philly and bought an AR-15 in seven minutes. It wasn't inexpensive.

My thought: Was she able to put that on an expense account? (I'm not trying to be flippant or get into any discussion about guns or how easily they might be obtained. I'm truly curious. That's a big chunk of change to spend out of your own pocket for the sake of one column.)

I bought an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in Philly in 7 minutes

 

[CD Boogie]

A columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer went to a gun shop in Philly and bought an AR-15 in seven minutes. It wasn't inexpensive.

My thought: Was she able to put that on an expense account? (I'm not trying to be flippant or get into any discussion about guns or how easily they might be obtained. I'm truly curious. That's a big chunk of change to spend out of your own pocket for the sake of one column.)

I bought an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in Philly in 7 minutes

Hopefully she sent the bill to Tim Kawakami.

 

[Ace]

Maybe she's loaning it to the ad sales department to help close deals.

 

[Batman]

And then she goes and turns it into the cops, essentially flushing almost $800 down the toilet.
Which means one of three things:
1) She's as stupid as the premise of her column
2) She's claiming it on an expense account, and the company paid for it.
3) She's writing it off as a business expense, which means the rest of the American taxpayers get to pay for it.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Yes, the company would absolutely be paying for it.

 

[cjericho]

There's a state east of PA, where it's close to impossible for a civilian to get a carry permit. Is anyone naive enough to believe you can't illegally purchase an AR in about the same as this reporter legally purchased one?

 

[SpeedTchr]

Factual error in her story -- the Orlando murderer didn't use an AR-15.

 

[cjericho]

Minor detail. Let's amend the Constitution first, then iron out the technicalities.

 

[Batman]

So let's break this down ...
1) She walks into the store, knows exactly what she wants, and is amazed that someone is attentive to their customers and can immediately assist them with such a purchase.
2) Is amazed that the computerized background check is efficient enough to be run and returned on a person with a presumably clean record in a matter of minutes -- like it's supposed to be.
3) Even though she is not a criminal, she treats the entire purchase of a completely legal product like she's buying plutonium and then is surprised that it's really just a regular transaction.
4) Drops $800 on a gun and then -- instead of returning it to the store because she changed her mind -- immediately turns it in to police because guns are icky.
5) Turns in an expense report that, if there's any justice in this world, HR will use the "You've gotta be ****ing kidding me" bright red rejection stamp on.

 

[Batman]

Meanwhile, traveling to Philadelphia for an easy and factually inaccurate "The AR-15 is scary!" column seems to be a popular thing to do today.

Firing an AR-15 is horrifying, menacing and very very loud

The recoil bruised my shoulder. The brass shell casings disoriented me as they flew past my face. The smell of sulfur and destruction made me sick. The explosions — loud like a bomb — gave me a temporary case of PTSD. For at least an hour after firing the gun just a few times, I was anxious and irritable.

Even in semi-automatic mode, it is very simple to squeeze off two dozen rounds before you even know what has happened. In fully automatic mode, it doesn’t take any imagination to see dozens of bodies falling in front of your barrel.

The AR-15 does not have a fully automatic mode. It's also got a recoil that's surprisingly light when you shoot it.

 

[cjericho]

"The recoil bruised my shoulder. The brass shell casings disoriented me as they flew past my face. The smell of sulfur and destruction made me sick. The explosions — loud like a bomb — gave me a temporary case of PTSD. For at least an hour after firing the gun just a few times, I was anxious and irritable."

Really, Gersh? Really?

 

[JohnHammond]

Wow! This story really makes you think. I'd rather read a story about a reporter buying a fully automatic gun, or a grenade launcher.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Minor detail. Let's amend the Constitution first, then iron out the technicalities.

Go on, try it. I'll sit here and watch.

 

[cjericho]

Go on, try it. I'll sit here and watch.

Let me talk to my friends at Rolling Stone first.

 

[fossywriter8]

"The recoil bruised my shoulder. The brass shell casings disoriented me as they flew past my face. The smell of sulfur and destruction made me sick. The explosions — loud like a bomb — gave me a temporary case of PTSD. For at least an hour after firing the gun just a few times, I was anxious and irritable."

Really, Gersh? Really?

That also stuck out to me. I had no idea Kuntzman is a psychiatrist or psychologist and is qualified to make the diagnosis.
What also stuck out to me was the opening line: "It feels like a bazooka — and sounds like a cannon."
I've never held a bazooka, and I doubt Kuntzman has either, but just going by appearances, I'd have to say there is a huge difference between a bazooka and an AR-15.
I have heard cannon blasts and rifle shots, and watched the video provided with Kuntz's story. The sound of the AR-15 being shot in the video is nothing like a cannon blast.
And as mentioned by another poster, the AR-15 does not have a fully automatic setting — pull and hold the trigger and rifle keeps shooting.
It has a semi-automatic setting — one trigger pull, one bullet fired.

 

[cjericho]

That also stuck out to me. I had no idea Kuntzman is a psychiatrist or psychologist and is qualified to make the diagnosis.
What also stuck out to me was the opening line: "It feels like a bazooka — and sounds like a cannon."
I've never held a bazooka, and I doubt Kuntzman has either, but just going by appearances, I'd have to say there is a huge difference between a bazooka and an AR-15.
I have heard cannon blasts and rifle shots, and watched the video provided with Kuntz's story. The sound of the AR-15 being shot in the video is nothing like a cannon blast.
And as mentioned by another poster, the AR-15 does not have a fully automatic setting — pull and hold the trigger and rifle keeps shooting.
It has a semi-automatic setting — one trigger pull, one bullet fired.

Some of our peaceful Muslim brothers teach 9 and 10-year-old kids to fire weapons as powerful, but Gersh is now traumatized.

Turkistan Islamic Party releases video of children in training | The Long War Journal

 

[CD Boogie]

So let's break this down ...
1) She walks into the store, knows exactly what she wants, and is amazed that someone is attentive to their customers and can immediately assist them with such a purchase.
2) Is amazed that the computerized background check is efficient enough to be run and returned on a person with a presumably clean record in a matter of minutes -- like it's supposed to be.
3) Even though she is not a criminal, she treats the entire purchase of a completely legal product like she's buying plutonium and then is surprised that it's really just a regular transaction.
4) Drops $800 on a gun and then -- instead of returning it to the store because she changed her mind -- immediately turns it in to police because guns are icky.
5) Turns in an expense report that, if there's any justice in this world, HR will use the "You've gotta be ****ing kidding me" bright red rejection stamp on.

Someone should have their pay docked for this story. Either the out of touch reporter or the editor who signed off on it.

 

[dirtybird]

From a traffic perspective, the $800 might be pretty decent bang for the buck. I mean, it's a trolling stunt following a terrible tragedy, but it probably got clicks.

 

[JimmyHoward33]

It's an interesting concept, I think there are readers who would be curious about how the check process works that would never actually go through it, so conveying a first-hand experience of doing so has merit.

Why not either return the gun, or let the shop in on the fact that its for a story, maybe they'd do the check grattas and save the $800.

 

[StaggerLee]

It's an interesting concept, I think there are readers who would be curious about how the check process works that would never actually go through it, so conveying a first-hand experience of doing so has merit.

Why not either return the gun, or let the shop in on the fact that its for a story, maybe they'd do the check grattas and save the $800.

But that's been done before, hasn't it? I mean, Michael Moore made an entire movie about it and showed how easy it was to buy a gun. He even got one free just for opening a checking account.