OPINION:
Well this didn’t go as planned.
In a corny political stunt designed to “go viral” on Facebook, a Democrat running for congress in Virginia staged the “destruction” of her AR-15 rifle on video and posted it to Facebook this week.
But Karen Mallard didn’t destroy her rifle. Instead she turned a perfectly legal firearm into an illegal sawed-off rifle. She also triggered a formal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
WVEO in Virginia Beach reports on the former school teacher’s stunt and the investigation that followed:
In the video, as Mallard introduces herself, she says, “I grew up in Wise County, surrounded by guns. Our family had guns my whole life. We use them for hunting, for protection, and recreation.” She goes on to explain that she wasn’t happy when her husband bought the AR-15 “a while back.” Mallard adds that after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida on February 14, and the renewed outcries for stricter gun control that followed, she and her husband agreed they didn’t want the AR-15 in their home.
The couple later decided they didn’t want it it anyone else’s house, either. “So, today, we’re going to destroy it,” states Mallard before taking a handheld power saw to it.
Master Police Officer Tonya Pierce, spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Police Department, confirmed that the rifle was in the department’s possession. Pierce told 13News Now the ATF was looking into the situation.
According to the Sawed-Off Shotgun and Sawed-Off Rifle Act rifles are prohibited from being “modified to an overall length of less than 26 inches.”
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