Twitchy
February 21, 2018
As of this writing, “investigative photojournalist” Cody Davis has racked up more than 8,000 retweets and 11,000 likes for this tweet, in which he claims he was able to buy an AR-15 in five minutes with an expired ID at age 20.
“I was able to buy an AR-15 in five minutes. I’m 20 and my ID is expired.
-Cody Davis #GunReformNow pic.twitter.com/TFd1dwCwHV— Investigative Photog (@usaphotodude) February 19, 2018
There’s just one thing wrong with that headline: he wasn’t able to buy an AR-15 in 5 minutes.
Why we can’t have nice things.
(This person did not buy an AR-15, did not fill out any paper work and did not go through the required background checks. He literally looked at a gun, then said, ‘meh, maybe I’ll get it later’ and left before filling out paperwork and purchasing) https://t.co/1kssgx0jSX
— Mere Dake-O’Connor (@meredithdake) February 20, 2018
What she said. Davis wrote at The Tab two years ago (the tweet’s new, the story is not) that he was in a gun shop in Virginia for only 5 minutes, but he didn’t buy a gun. The dealer showed him a gun and let him take a photo, but he didn’t even fill out the paperwork:
After he walked me through the paperwork, all five pages of it, I told him I changed my mind and wanted to think more before I bought an AR-15. He told me it wasn’t a problem and listed the store hours if I wanted to come back. I then said thank you and walked back to my car.
Seconds. It took seconds for the salesman to take an AR-15 off the shelf and begin selling it to me. If I had stayed for maybe three minutes longer to fill out less paperwork than I did for the hiring process at my school’s bookstore, I would’ve driven home with an AR-15.
No delay. No extensive background check. Just my recently expired driver’s license, my vehicle registration, and filling out some paperwork.
So, um, that would make the…