Two Huffington Post reporters were sent on a special mission on Tuesday afternoon: See how long it would take them to purchase an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
As it turned out, the task was laughably simple. Even though the location the men chose to use was in the very same city were 49 died on Sunday in a massacre which was carried out with the very same type of gun, they were able to get their hands on the killing machine quicker than it takes to get your oil changed.
In all, it took the two men 38 minutes from the time they entered the gun shop to the time they emerged, holding the large gun in their hands.
In fact, if the men hadn’t been trying to buy the gun two days after a mass shooting, the process would likely have only taken five minutes according to the shop employees. Unfortunately for the antsy gun-purchasers in town, the massive uptick in gun sales in the aftermath of the shooting meant that backgrounds checks were taking a bit longer than usual.
The article on the short trip details the strange juxtaposition of the jovial sales attendants joking about how much damage the gun could do, while above their heads, a TV displaying Fox News flashed nonstop coverage of the recent massacre.
Sure, Republicans, we get that you really really love your guns. A lot of Democrats do too, though you never think of that. But there is something that just doesn’t sit right about being able to obtain a weapon capable of killing 50 people and injuring 50 more in a short time on your lunch break.
