Lindsey Graham Asks Head of FBI How to Buy a Gun on the Internet

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Lindsey Graham Asks Head of FBI How to Buy a Gun on the Internet

“If I buy a gun on the internet, is it delivered to my home?"

As you might expect, Wednesday's FBI oversight hearing hosted by the Senate Judiciary Committee focused primarily on the recent terrorist attacks in San Bernardino, California and Paris. Members of the committee were in full panic mode over all sorts of things, but none moreso than the role the internet (and encryption) plays in the planning and execution of terrorist attacks.

In this particularly awkward exchange, South Carolina Sen. and delusional presidential candidate Lindsey Graham asked FBI Director James Comey where, exactly, a hypothetical gun ordered from the internet would be delivered.

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"If I buy a gun on the internet, is it delivered to my home?," Graham asked (he's not pictured on the video, but that's his voice).

"If you buy a gun on the internet?," Comey responded, seemingly perplexed at the line of questioning.

"If I try to buy a gun on the internet, where do I pick it up?" Graham continued.

Comey paused for a second—perhaps because he didn't want to embarrass Graham—perhaps because he truly didn't know the answer, then responded: "I assume it's shipped to you, but I don't know for sure, actually."

To save Comey and Graham a bit of research: If you legally purchase a gun on the internet, you go pick it up from your local Federal Firearms License dealer. If you're illegally buying a gun off of the dark web and you are extremely reckless, then it's possible to get it delivered to your home.

Though the San Bernardino shooters seemed to build their cache from local retailers, Mashable did their own investigation on buying guns online and found that it was ridiculously easy to do so, so long as your local gun laws allow FFL dealers to act as your middleman.

All you do is buy it online on the vendor's web shop, have it shipped to your FFL dealer, then pick it up from that dealer, who will give you an instant background check to make sure you're old enough and your history is more or less clean.

The reality is it's not that different than buying it at the gun store, where they use the same lackluster system.