Assault Rifle Stolen from Primary Source for Utah GOP on Gun Issues

Police in Utah are searching for an AR-15 stolen from the vehicle of Clark Aposhian, a prominent gun lobbyist and instructor. This is no accidental relationship. He drives “a red car with a yellow bumper sticker announcing: ‘I am the gun lobby.'” A Utah paper describes his relationship with legislators, “Utah legislators fire off questions to ‘primary source’ Clark Aposhian; they respect his steady grip on firearms issues.”

Not such a steady grip, apparently.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that “Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, had his locked vehicle parked outside his home on the 1600 E. block of 2900 South Wednesday night. By Thursday morning, the AR-15, which was inside a case in the vehicle, was gone, said Cottonwood Heights Sgt. Mark Askerlund.”

The AR-15 is magazine-fed, semi-automatic rifle with a rotating-lock bolt. Now you can understand why we don’t need any gun safety measures. Learned scholars of the gun leave their AR-15s in their cars at night for your safety.

This is the man that Republican Rep. Curt Oda (R-Clearfield) calls a primary source for double checking gun bills, “Clark has been instrumental because we don’t have the time to look at every little detail and compare,” Oda said. “He’s actually the primary source to double-check everything.”

Perhaps this is just one reason why President Obama won’t let it go. Note how he said yesterday that the gun safety measures being proposed will not infringe upon responsible gun owners (that would hopefully exclude Mr. Instructor/Lobbyist):

“Earlier this month, the Senate advanced some of the most important reforms designed to reduce gun violence. All of them are consistent with the Second Amendment. None of them will infringe on the rights of responsible gun owners. What they will do is keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people who put others at risk.

“Now, in the coming weeks, members of Congress will vote on whether we should require universal background checks for anyone who wants to buy a gun so that criminals or people with severe mental illnesses can’t get their hands on one. They’ll vote on tough new penalties for anyone who buys guns only to turn around and sell them to criminals. They’ll vote on a measure that would keep weapons of war and high-capacity ammunition magazines that facilitate these mass killings off our streets. They’ll get to vote on legislation that would help schools become safer and help people struggling with mental health problems to get the treatment that they need.”

Best add to that list voting on holding gun owners somewhat responsible for public access to their weapons. The vehicle of the GOP’s ‘primary source’ for gun issues was parked outside of his house overnight; he could have easily brought the AR-15 inside if he thinks they’re so great to have around.

Note to primary sources for Republicans on gun bills: Your vehicle is not a gun safe, and your grip is not so steady.

Image: The Salt Lake Tribune

Sarah Jones

Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.

Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.

Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Connect with Sarah on Post,  Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.