CLAIM: The day after the Manhattan attack, New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) claimed, “Automatic weapons are as easy to get as a cell phone.”
VERDICT: False.
A cell phone can be acquired within an hour and sometimes even sooner, depending on the length of the lines in the cell phone store. The cell phone purchaser does not have to be fingerprinted, photographed, or have his or her background checked by the FBI.
On the other hand, in order to acquire an automatic weapon the would-be buyer must be fingerprinted and photographed and pass a background check.
Moreover, the would-be purchaser of the automatic weapon must pay a federal tax of $200 and register the firearm with the ATF. The process for doing all these things can take months.
Mayor Adams’ claim is false. And, as a side note, it is important to note that the Manhattan attacker did not use an automatic weapon. Rather, he used a traditional, designed-for-civilian semiautomatic rifle.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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