Former President Donald Trump attempted to buy a firearm during a campaign event amid indictment charges.
Late last month, Trump went gun shopping with Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and asked to buy a Glock pistol on camera.
“I wanna buy one,” the former president said while taking a tour of Palmetto State Armory, a federally licensed gun dealer in South Carolina that’s popular among firearm enthusiasts.
“Sir, if you want one, this one’s yours,” one of his staff said, seeming to divert Trump away from making an actual purchase. “No, I wanna buy one,” Trump insisted.
This comes as Trump has been charged for the fourth time this year for his alleged involvement in attempting to overturn 2020 presidential election results, as well as the January 6 Captiol riot.
Had he actually purchased a firearm, this would have violated the very same law that recently led to First Son Hunter Biden’s criminal charges.
Biden was recently indicted on federal gun charges out of Special Counsel David Weiss’ investigation, including charges for making a false statement in the purchase of a firearm; making a false statement related to information required to be kept by a federal firearms licensed dealer; and one count of possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.
18 U.S. Code § 922 restricts anyone from acquiring guns after serving time in prison, as well as straw purchasers who buy a firearm with the express purpose of selling it to another person. Other people who aren’t allowed to possess firearms turn to this law when trying to enforce its restrictions.
As for Trump’s indictment, he has since invoked the Presidential Records Act and drawn comparisons between his treatment and that of President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and even former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger.
Democratic District Attorney Fani Willis was in charge of prosecuting Trump and his co-defendants. She requested in a petition recently that the trial start on October 23. The 45th president is accused of other crimes in New York, Florida, and Washington, D.C.; a judge will eventually decide when his trial in Georgia will start.
