A campaign opportunity to showcase former President Donald Trump’s support for the Second Amendment misfired on Monday.
Trump popped into Palmetto State Armory, a gun shop in Summerville, South Carolina, on Monday while he was campaigning in South Carolina, according to CNBC.
While he was there, he was fascinated with a special “Trump edition” handgun that has Trump’s photo on the handle. “Trump 45” is emblazoned on the gun’s slide.
‘They sell well?’ Trump asked, according to the U.K. Daily Mail.
When told they did, he replied: “They like me.”
“I’m gonna buy one,” Trump said, adding seconds later, “I want to buy one.”
“Isn’t Glock a great gun?” Trump said.
So far, so good. Then Trump representative Steven Cheung posted a video of Trump at the shop, a post he later deleted.
“President Trump purchases a @GLOCKInc in South Carolina!” he wrote, according to the New York Post.
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The problem was that Trump could handle the gun and praise it to the skies, but federal law prohibits the sale of guns to people under felony indictment and bars them from receiving a gun “which has been shipped or transported in interstate or foreign commerce,” according to ABC.
Naturally, some of Trump’s fiercest critics, such as his niece, Mary L. Trump, pounced on this potential legal snafu:
The Trump supporter who posted the viral video of Donald insisting he wanted to buy a Glock – which legally could have gotten Donald in a lot of legal trouble – DELETED it.
Too late. I already put it in the family archive. 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/gN2buUVlLd
— Mary L Trump (@MaryLTrump) September 25, 2023
There is a bit of gray area in that due to the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that created a new landscape for gun regulations with appeals to that law working their way through the courts.
Cheung later said Trump did not buy a weapon.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung clarifies to CNN that former President Donald Trump did NOT purchase a firearm at the armory in Summerville, South Carolina, on Monday. https://t.co/ggXMb5OG6N
— Kristen Holmes (@KristenhCNN) September 25, 2023
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted a similar sentiment which as of Monday evening was not taken down.
President Trump doing a little shopping in South Carolina!
He will protect our great Second Amendment!! pic.twitter.com/Qs6Imc8LEb
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) September 25, 2023
“President Trump doing a little shopping in South Carolina! He will protect our great Second Amendment!!’ she posted.