Democrat Congressional Candidate Karen Mallard is capitalizing on the viral AR-15 video showing her breaking the law by soliciting campaign donations.
Karen Mallard got her 15 minutes of fame last month when she posted a video to her Congressional campaign's Facebook page showing her 'destroying' her husband's AR-15 style rifle. Except she didn't actually destroy the firearm on camera. She took an angle grinder to the rifle's barrel, chopping the barrel's length down to less than 16 inches. She broke the law. Congress passed the National Firearms Act in 1934 creating a separate class of weaponry that requires additional background checks and registration. They included machine guns, grenades and explosives, sawed-off shotguns, and short-barreled rifles. These were the firearms and weapons typically used by mobsters and gangsters in Great Depression-era America. Whether she understood it or not, and regardless of whether she intended to, Karen Mallard created an unregistered Short Barreled Rifle. The minute she cut the barrel to a length shorter than 16 inches, she broke the law. The law she violated was the same statute banning civilians from manufacturing machine guns or grenades. Gun owners on social media immediately picked up on the crime and started posting to Mallard's social media pages. Some even tagged the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) in their posts. Many commented that they had called the ATF to report the crime. We called the ATF the day after the video posted and the agent that answered was already given a script, explaining that the Bureau had been notified of Mrs. Mallard's actions and were investigating.
Realizing the mistake she had made, Karen Mallard relinquished the unregistered short barreled rifle to her local police department. While the Virginia Beach Police Department typically expedites the destruction of relinquished firearms, they are keeping the firearm in their evidence locker in case the ATF requests it. The VBPD has informed the ATF that they are free to pick the weapon up whenever they want.
Weeks after the incident, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is keeping the details of their investigation close to the vest. Agents who answer the Bureau's tip hotline say that as per policy, they are unable to confirm or deny the existence of a criminal investigation.
None of that has stopped Karen Mallard from using the incident to bolster her image. On March 25, the day of nationwide March for Our Lives gun control rallies, Mallard's campaign posted a fundraising link to their Facebook page. The plea used the sawed-off rifle video to solicit donations for her political campaign. At the time of this article's publication, the fundraising plea was "pinned" to the top of the campaign's Facebook page, meaning that no matter what else gets posted, this fundraising link will remain at the top.
Karen Mallard and her campaign continue to argue that she did nothing wrong in the video since she did not intend to create a short-barreled rifle. She has accused "NRA trolls" of attacking her for her because of her stance on guns. However, the act of fundraising off of the incident shows that Mallard is not worried about being prosecuted for her actions.
If the ATF chooses to refer Mallard for prosecution, she wouldn't be the first Democratic Congressional candidate in Virginia's Second Congressional District to face an indictment. Former candidate Shaun Brown was indicted last December on charges of wire fraud and theft of government property. Federal prosecutors argue that Brown stole money from a federally funded school nutrition program, which Shaun Brown denies.
Messages put into incumbent Congressman Scott Taylor's campaign for comment on the AR-15 destruction video were not answered.
What do you think? Should Karen Mallard be fundraising off of a video that the ATF is currently investigating? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!
