News Outlet Claims Buying an AR-15 is Like ‘Ordering Groceries.’

A news outlet tried making the claim that buying an AR-15 is as easy as buying groceries online. They crowed and they crowed and now they are eating crow.

Zach Seward, editor-in-chief of Quartz, tweeted on Thursday:

“We bought a gun—the same Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 assault rifle used in Uvalde. It was like ordering groceries. Click, checkout, done.”

While it is true that you can buy a gun over the internet, you can’t get possession of a gun over the internet. Unlike voting, you actually have to produce an ID and undergo a federal background check in order to actually receive a gun. The gun must be shipped to a federally licensed gun dealer. You have to go in and prove your identity and then they run a background check. Some states have various different rules that can delay your receiving your gun by days.

We bought a gun—the same Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 assault rifle used in Uvalde. It was like ordering groceries. Click, checkout, done. https://t.co/s5DVw2CvIB

— Zach Seward (@zseward) May 26, 2022

Quartz said that buying the AR-15 took only five clicks and was not much different than buying a Lego set or a pair of shoes. I guess that is true as long as you don’t count showing your ID and undergoing an FBI background check. The article claimed that they did not have to produce an ID or undergo a background check. They did finally admit they had to do both to actually pick up the gun, but not until the very last paragraph of the story.

From The Blaze

Here’s what critics of the story said:

• “‘It’s like ordering groceries..’ if Safeway had access to your criminal records and personal info to sell you a strawberry,” communications strategist Matt Whitlock mocked.
• “Except he had to go to a FFL, fill out a 4473, wait for NICS to come back clear before ever leaving with it. Funny, I’ve never had to do that for groceries — and in some states you wait a few days,” Dana Loesch noted.
• “Just like ordering groceries if ordering groceries meant going to a specially licensed dealer and passing an fbi background check. (Also it’s not an ‘assault rifle’),” conservative writer David Harsanyi said.
• “These people are such liars. You will have to go to an FFL dealer to pick it up. Before you leave with it, you will be subjected to a background check. Only when you pass the background check will you have ‘bought the gun,'” Jason Howerton said.
• “‘Buying a gun is just like buying groceries!’ Because we all know you have to pass a federal background check when you go to pick up your curbside order at Wegman’s. They’re being deceptive about this on purpose,” John Cooper of the Heritage Foundation mocked.
• “Not a single person in this entire media organization thought this story felt incomplete before publishing it. That’s cultural illiteracy — and it’s just as bad as a news organization devoid of women, or one without the perspective of non-white employees,” Steve Krakauer noted.
• “Yes, ordering groceries, something that famously requires proof of a clean criminal record,” journalist Drew Holden mocked.