A “journalist” who evidently knows nothing about guns is being reamed for claiming that purchasing an “assault rifle” is as easy as “ordering groceries.”
“We bought a gun—the same Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 assault rifle used in Uvalde. It was like ordering groceries. Click, checkout, done,” Zach Seward of Quartz tweeted Thursday afternoon.
The tweet linked to an official Quartz piece describing how it’d taken him only “five clicks” to purchase the weapon.
Look:
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
As of Saturday morning, the tweet boasted a gigantic ratio from disgruntled gun owners who knew better.
Not noted in Seward’s tweet is that simply making an online order isn’t the same thing as actually purchasing a weapon.
Why not? Because to complete the purchase, the purchaser must travel to the gun store, show their ID, and then pass an on-the-spot background check. Then, and only then, would the purchase be complete.
But Seward never completed his purchase, meaning that the entire premise of his tweet and attached piece were bogus, especially his claim that purchasing a weapon is like “ordering groceries.”
If you order groceries online from Walmart.com or Instacart.com, there is no additional process you must pass. In fact, you can even have the groceries delivered to your doorstep, often that very same day.
But with purchasing a gun, that’s certainly not the case.
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. https://t.co/sfjyDKHLeD
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) May 27, 2022
It has to be delivered to a licensed operator (like a range), where a background check is performed. The like groceries line is just silly. Cut the shit.
— Alabaster Angel 😇 (@escapefromNYnow) May 28, 2022
freaking moron @zseward . yes, you can “order” a gun online, but unless you are a FFL holder, it’s not going to be delivered to your house. You’ll still need to go to a gun store/FFL dealer, who will run a criminal background check on you, verify ID, & federal forms.
— VAPatriot (@VAPatriot14) May 27, 2022
Lmao then it will be delivered to your closest firearms dealer from there you have to undergoe an fbi criminal background check after that’s complete then you can go and pick your firearm up from the firearm dealer its really not that simple but nice try
— ADude (@Adude1018) May 28, 2022
You THEN had it shipped to an FFL/gun shop (federal firearms licensee) in the state you live in, filled out a background check there, wait for the person behind the counter to call the FBI and get the okay and THEN left with it. Also had to wait a few days if you live in Cali.
— Maj Toure (@MAJTOURE) May 27, 2022
Is it being delivered to your front door? No
Are you going to have to go pick it up from an FFL? Yes.
Do you have to present ID with current address when you pick it up? Yes
Is the FFL going to run a background check on you? Yes
You’re a clown 🤡🤡🤡
— Red White & Blue Jim 🇺🇸 (@RWB_JIM) May 28, 2022
In fairness to Seward, he did briefly mention the background check requirement at the tail end of his Quartz piece, though he did also double down on his “silly” groceries comparison.
“That’s it. We’d ordered a gun. It won’t be delivered at our doorstep, like that Lego set or the pair of shoes, and to take it home we’ll have to fill out paperwork for a background check (in fact, you can’t order it to your home, only to a licensed dealer). Still, the fact that shopping for a firearm does not feel noticeably different than ordering those everyday items is a telling commentary on the prevalence of guns in US culture,” the piece reads.
When later faced with criticism on Twitter, Seward tripled down.
Look:
A few criticisms leveled at this piece are worth addressing:
1. Some view it as a sick “how-to” for would-be buyers of assault rifles, but the point is to demonstrate that it requires no how-to whatsoever. It’s one thing to know how easy it is, but a lot more powerful to see it.
— Zach Seward (@zseward) May 26, 2022
2. Others think we glossed over the requirement to show up in person at a dealer and pass a background check. We didn’t, it’s all over the piece. You have to show ID when picking up your online alcohol order, too.
— Zach Seward (@zseward) May 26, 2022
3. Fewer readers, but a few, think it’s a dog-bites-man story, or dog-bites-liberal-who-just-discovered-guns. But tell that to the half of our readers who live outside the US and cannot just go buy an assault rifle online. It really is rightly astonishing to most people!
— Zach Seward (@zseward) May 26, 2022
Notice how, as an example of groceries, he cited alcohol.
Not the same at all. Showing your ID completes your alcohol order. Forget your ID? Come back later with it, all good. Go to pick up a firearm at a licensed FFL and fail your background check? No Sale. Not that you would know.
— Vigilant Farmer (@FarmPeace) May 28, 2022
Critics say Seward is just another example of a gun-hating leftist “journalist” who’s in way over their head. It’s a frequent phenomenon that crops up following virtually every mass shooting involving an AR-16-like weapon.
The most commonly observed evidence that the journalist knows nothing about guns is their usage of the terms “assault weapon” and “assault rifle.”
Both terms are literally made-up and have no official definition …
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