Tennessee Lawmaker Buys Assault Rifle Online and Brings It to Work

Hoping to prove a point about the ease of buying guns online, a Tennessee lawmaker brought a newly purchased assault rifle to work Wednesday.

Rep. Mike Stewart said he found the AR-15 style weapon online Tuesday and picked it up in a restaurant parking lot without submitting to a background check, according to The Tennessean.

“Luckily, I am not a member of a drug cartel. I am not on a terrorist watch list,” Stewart said after bringing the gun to a House Civil Justice Subcommittee meeting. “I am not a longtime criminal with a big record of felony convictions and violence.”

Stewart, a Democrat, has two bills on the subcommittee calendar related to gun background checks, including one that would make it a Class C misdemeanor for selling a weapon without conducting a background check on the buyer.

He said he paid a total of $750 to purchase two 30-round magazines and the weapon, reports The Tennessean, which Stewart remarked was similar to the one he used in the military when serving in Korea.

“I’m basically as well armed as when I was a soldier in the military,” he added.