Monday, March 11, 2013

Statement Analysis: Gabby Giffords' Husband on Gun Purchase

Gabby Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, testified against assault rifles, specifically the AR-15s,

Receiving a tip, a news organization learned that he actually went out and purchased one, himself.  The media reported this and it prompted a series of responses, including on Facebook.

In what has been described as heavily emotional testimony against the assault rifle, the husband of Gabby Giffords has said, "something has to be done about gun violence" and specifically spoke out against the AR 15.


Here is his statement he wrote on his page.  What do you notice about it?  What does your analysis show?  Please post results in comments section:

"I just had a background check a few days ago when I went to my local gun store to buy a .45. As I was leaving, I noticed a used AR-15. Bought that too. Even to buy an assault weapon, the background check only takes a matter of minutes. I don't have possession of it yet but I'll be turning it over to the Tucson PD when I do."


He has not commented on whether or not he will return the .45

This became an issue due to its inconsistency and Kelly gave various reasons for the purchase, including dismissing it as an "impulse buy", (yet he bought ammunition for it as well) to a "demonstration" on how easy it was for him to buy one.


                                                What do you make of his words?

27 comments:

toonces said...

I believe the lady's name is "Giffords" not Gifford.

Mainah said...


Peter,

Was the quoted statement by MK in response to a specific question? I want more (context)cowbell.

Thank you

Statement Analysis Blog said...

I thought there was just one of her

John Mc Gowan said...

"I JUST had a background check a few days ago when I went to my local gun store to buy a .45. As I was leaving, I noticed a used AR-15. BOUGHT THAT TOO. Even to buy an assault weapon, the background check only takes a matter of minutes. I don't have possession of it yet but I'll be turning it over to the Tucson PD when I do.

JUST: Minimising: This is also a unnecessary word take out JUST and it reads the same.

I had a background check a few days ago when I went to my local gun store to buy a .45.

"BOUGHT THAT TOO" Dropped pronoun lacks commitment and ownership.

"I DON'T have possession of it yet"

Anything in the negative can be sensitive.Is he annoyed that he doesn't have posession it yet?

John Mc Gowan said...

Also,he uses "I" a lot taking ownership, until he gets up to were he says:

"BOUGHT THAT TOO":Explained above.^^^


John Mc Gowan said...

"AS I WAS LEAVING"

When someone tells us they left somewhere we note as sensitive,unless its due to traffic,being late etc.We see were the sensitivity is,him buying the AR-15

He could have said i also bought an AR-15.

I believe buying the AR-15 is sensitive to him.

rob said...

Typical, speak out against me owning one, but no problem with the one speaking out againt it having one.
so glad he was exposed!

Mainah said...

Forget what I said about more cowbell! I can’t even finish this short paragraph there is so much information to glean. I think I could find more to comment on, but I need a break.
----

I just had a background check a few days ago when

“just” “when” – unnecessary. “background check” appears again later

I went to my local gun store to buy a .45.

“I” and “my” expected/appropriate taking ownership pronouns
“to” – (blue, high alert) telling why something happened. told in addition not instead of

As I was leaving, I noticed a used AR-15. Bought that too.

“As” “Leaving”- (? I’m not sure what these mean except to say they seem appropriate to me. It’s in appropriate chronological order and “as” marks the time of the “leaving”) He could have said, “on my way out” or “I started to leave”, or any number of things, but he didn’t.
Dropped pronoun- sensitive, distance from “bought”, past tense of buy
“That”- distance
“too”- now tells us the .45 was purchased

Even to buy an assault weapon, the background check only takes a matter of minutes.
He repeats “background check” from the first (most important) line, making it important to MK
Change in language from “AR-15” to “assault rifle”. Change after buying, paying, purchasing

I don't have possession of
it yet but
I'll be turning
it over to the Tucson PD when
I do.

Statement shows commitment “to” turning it “over”
“Over” “to”, not “into”

Skeptical said...

The previous posters did such a good job, I have only a couple of things to add.

I believe leaving denotes time passage. Did he take time to examine the rifle before leaving the store? If so, this would not be an impulse purchase.

"Even" sounds like an attempt to minimize.

Would he have turned over the rifle to the Phoenix PD if he had not been discovered. This sounds like a cop out.

Tania Cadogan said...

~ make up your minds as to whether you want more cowbell or not, I hav a herd of the lil blighters running around my backyard making a racket.
Do you want more cowbell or not. if you don't i'm gonna let them go play in the park for a bit, if you do then let me know how many so i can go wrestle with a few moo's for their bells :)

Anonymous said...

Anyone that needs an AK 47 is a whackjob

Anonymous said...

(From ivanna-anna)

"I just had a background check a few days ago when I went to my local gun store to buy a .45."

He puts stress on the background check (by saying it first).

"my local gun store"
a) he feels closeness to his local store
b) he specified it was his local store. His world contains at least one other (non-local) gun store. (Most people I know have none)

He feels a need to say that the reason he went to the shop was to buy the .45. He means that he bought the other one on impulse, which is not as bad as if he had planned it.

"As I was leaving, I noticed a used AR-15. Bought that too."

It was a last minute purchase that almost didn't happen (lessens the seriousness of what he did).
It was used, not brand new (gives a mental image of a less powerful weapon).
"Bought that too" is missing the word I. He's distancing himself from the act that should not have happened.

"I don't have possession of it yet"
He "has" it, but not possession" of it. = he feels ownership, but not possession.

John Mc Gowan said...

ivanna-anna Said:

It was a last minute purchase that almost didn't happen (lessens the seriousness of what he did).
It was used, not brand new (gives a mental image of a less powerful weapon).

I'm liking this. :-)

Nic said...

Not much to add after everyone else's great observations...but one thing sticks in my craw.

"Bought that too. Even to buy an assault weapon, the background check only takes a matter of minutes."

He is saying that the background check was incredibly quick for his "assault weapon" and that the system is flawed, letting people have the weapons too fast. Fair enough, but he then continues

"I don't have possession of it yet but I'll be turning it over to the Tucson PD when I do."

So he left the store without it, but he does not explain why he didn't leave with it. Is the store running additional checks...is there a mandatory waiting period that might be an additional safeguard, but he can't mention it because that would spoil his agenda?

Lis said...

The first thing I notice is the dropped pronoun "I" on "bought that too." He does not want to take responsibility for buying the AR-15.

"I just had a background check a few days ago when I went to my local gun store to buy a .45."
-Out of order chronilogically.
-"background check" is brought up
-"Just" minimizing.
-"local" unnecessary added information
-"to buy a .45" explaining, justifying, rationalizing

"As I was leaving"
-note "leaving"
-Explaining; sensitivity

"I noticed a used AR-15."
-"used" unecessary extra information
-"noticed" - passive, implies he is not looking for but it just happened to be right where he "noticed" it

"Bought that too"
-dropped pronoun "I", he does not want to take responsibility for buying the AR-15

"Even to buy an assault weapon, the background check only takes a matter of minutes"
-"background check" repeated, sensitivity about background checks
-"Even" to buy an assault weapon- he is changing the subject, adding extra information, sidetracking back to the background check, again.

"I don't have possession of it yet but I'll be turning it over to the Tucson PD when I do."
-anything stated in the negative is important
-"but" negates what came before it
-he purchased a weapon and ammo just so he could give it away to the PD? Who does that?

I suggest that Mr. Giffords, like many involved in the gun ban movement, feels that *he* has justification to own the weapon, whereas the common people should be banned from ownership, and being involved in the movement to ban these guns, he was going to make sure he got his own, first.

Anonymous said...

Why take "possession" of it at all? If he thinks it was wrong to buy the weapon (therefore telling everyone of his intention of now having thought the matter over to bring the weapon to the police dept.) why go through all the effort to obtain the weapon just to hand it over to the police dept? Can't he just call the local gun shop and just cancel the purchase?

Sus said...

JUST is minimizing
WHEN I WENT I think of went as stating position, thus showing anxiety or some nervousness about where he's at.
MY LOCAL GUN STORE by using my and local he has softened, excused where he's at.
.45 he's at the GUN story, but he's getting a .45. He's changed the name.
AS I WAS LEAVING not completed, something happened to stop him leaving. LEAVING is a tense of left...gives where he's at again and shows a tenseness.
NOTICED glimpsed, quickly saw, but it was enough to stop him leaving the store.
USED AR-15 used might tell the story. How did Mark Kelly see used? Had it been used in a crime? Did he wonder if it was checked by authorities? Was he playing cop? Or investigator on background checks? Did USED anger him? Or make him curious?
BOUGHT THAT TOO. Dropped pronoun. He's sensitive about buying the AR-15.
TOO he puts buying the AR-15 in the same category as the. 45 in his mind.
EVEN TO BUY distancing
ASSULT WEAPON new name for AR-15
THE BACKGROUND CHECK ONLY TAKES...
Switched to present tense and not about himself. Getting the background check for the AR-15 seems to be extremely sensitive to Mark Kelly.
I DONT HAVE POSSESSION in the negative
TURNING IT OVER these words would back up "playing cop" like the store shouldn't have a used AR-15.

In summary, Mark Kelly is sensitive about buying the AR-15, but I don't know why. I can hardly believe he and his wife would begin a gun control group, then he would run out and buy one. And that he would think no one would find out. It looks more like he may have let his emotions overrule his sensibility and played cop.

Lis said...

These analyses are great! I missed so much on my reading, even got his name wrong, ha ha! I really enjoyed this exercise, I am learning so much from everyone.

As I thought about it, the term "my local gun store" kept running through my mind. Why does he take ownership of the gun store? Does he have a relationship there? Why is it not 'a' gun store or 'the' gun store, but 'my' gun store?

---

"Anonymous said...
Anyone that needs an AK 47 is a whackjob"

I think, anon, you meant to say anyone who *wants* an AK 47 is a whackjob? Because anyone who *needs* one is a person living in a very unsafe situation. That doesn't make them a whackjob. lol.


Excruciating Headache said...

No one speaks like he writes. It would be awkward. "Bought it too" sounds like something out of a text message.

I think you're reading too much into it. As far as Mark Kelly being sensitive about certain words involving a gun purchase, keep in mind that the man's wife was shot in the head and barely survived. You might be sensitive, too.

My guess is that he plans to turn the assault rifle over to the police because he thinks it will make it unavailable to someone is dangerous.

Anonymous said...

What is it ? The assault weapon or the background check.

ACH

rob said...

Headache, if he is loooking to buy up all the AR's out there to keep the country safe, I have an extra that I will sell him, at a VERY good price.
What do you think the story is on the 45? Just buying it to give away also?

Lis said...

He was interviewed further by Wolf Blitzer and I was laughing all through it last night. Of course, the interviewer was doing his best to help him dig his way out of it instead of asking him any meaningful questions. Kelly is working hard to grasp control of this narrative but his story doesn't make sense.

Lemon said...

More cowbell, please.

Excruciating Headache said...

No. I think he wanted the .45. I hope he didn't spend all that money on guns just to make a point.

Jared Laughner has already made it perfectly.

Tania Cadogan said...

$2 for the small
$5 for the medium
$9 for the large
$15 for the nellifant sized.

With the nelliefant sized cowbell you never fear losing your moos again. The reason being it is so big and heavy the lil blighters can't move hehe.

discounts for multiple orders and if you buy 9 you get the 10th free.

Sus said...

The full transcript with Wolf Blitzer is not up, but enough that I'm troubled for Mark Kelly. I'm worried that he bought that AR-15 as a compulsive rather than impulsive buy. He has been through major trauma and changes in his life without any rest.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't anyone find it to be convienent the teacher accused of having a relationship with Kelly's high school age daughter committed suicide very quickly before an investigation could get underway? The teacher, it was reported, killed himself while in his own car parked in his garage. The daughters name was not leaked to the media (probably due to the connection with Giffords). Mr. Kelly also has a rep around NASA as being full of himself. Big man on campus. Remember that when congresswoman Giffords is on the campaign trail. She is married to this man.