Trump said he wanted to buy a Glock — here's why he legally can't

UPDATE: CNN reporter Alayna Treene later said the news outlet had confirmed Trump hadn’t gone through with the purchase of the firearm. Former Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung has since deleted a social media post in which he said Trump had bought the Glock.

If Donald Trump just bought the gun his former spokesperson claims he did, he broke federal law.

MSNBC shared a video Monday of Trump holding up the Glock handgun with his face on it at a rally in South Carolina and saying he intended to buy it. A former spokesperson said it was purchased, though MSNBC was unable to confirm the actual transaction and the Trump campaign later said he didn't.

If it was purchased, it's possible he was able to do so through a gun show loophole that wouldn't require him to pass a background check.

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"The 'gun show loophole' refers to the fact that federal law does not require unlicensed private sellers to perform background checks on gun purchasers, so those sales are unregulated unless state law steps in to fill the gap," explains United Against Gun Violence.

But Reuters reporter Brad Heath explained that his buying it would be against federal law. "18 U.S.C. § 922(d)(1) makes it a federal crime to sell a firearm to a person who is under felony indictment. And 18 U.S.C. § 922(n) makes it a federal crime for a person under indictment to ship or transport a firearm."