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Seller cancels Mark Kelly assault weapon buy

TUCSON, Ariz. The owner of a Tucson gun store where former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' husband purchased a semi-automatic rifle has canceled the transaction.

Doug MacKinlay said Monday that a full refund was sent to Mark Kelly via express mail because the former astronaut didn't plan to keep the AR-15-style rifle for his personal use.

Kelly bought the gun March 5 at Diamondback Police Supply, saying he wanted to show how easy it is to buy an assault weapon. He planned to turn it in to Tucson police.

MacKinlay tells The Arizona Daily Star he terminated the transaction Thursday before Kelly could take possession of the firearm.

Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, was among 13 people wounded in a January 2011 shooting outside a Tucson supermarket that left six others dead.

Kelly and Giffords recently started a gun control advocacy group.

Kelly, who couldn't be reached for comment, had said he bought the AR-15 to show how easy it is to buy an assault weapon and planned to turn it in to Tucson police, the newspaper points out.

Separately, amateur video shows Kelly yanking away a dog that had clamped down on a baby sea lion at a California beach.

Laguna Beach police tell the Los Angeles Times the attack happened near an exclusive resort Saturday.

Kelly and Giffords have been vacationing in Laguna Beach, the Times says.

In video obtained by the Times and a Los Angeles television station, Kelly's screaming stepdaughter tries to pull her dog from the sea lion as two other women help.

Kelly finally steps in and wrests the animal free. The sea lion later died.

A spokeswoman for Kelly's political committee says the family crated the dog and then talked to officers. Police say the dog broke from its leash, and no laws were broken.

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