The Media – Page 22 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Media Doing Our Jobs For Us

I am often amused by how the media sometimes, trying to make our arguments look ridiculous, actually ends up doing our jobs for us by getting the word out in a way that’s likely to scare the living hell out of our people. This is an example:

The latest ridiculous [NRA] scare tactic involves a federal requirement that gun shop owners in border states provide the ATF with the birth dates, addresses, race and gender, of individuals who purchase two or more semi-automatic rifles greater than .22 calibers in a five-day period.

Well, when you put it that way, surely the tinfoil hat crowd will wonder what all the fuss has been about. None of our people could, likewise, imagine buying a semi-auto rifle for a home and the cabin on the lake in a five day period. I think it’s also amazing that they think this is is all driven by NRA, rather than the other way around.

30 Rounds of PSH

The Washington Post is busy lamenting freedom in the US, and apparently Sweden.

These magazines too often find their way into the hands of deranged individuals, transforming them into efficient killing machines.

Do they also transform our police into efficient killing machines? If their only purpose is predation, why do the police need them? The media never wants to answer this question. I’ll make them a deal, write up a ban that applies to the police too, and get all major police groups behind it, I’ll get behind it too. I’m waiting, but not holding my breath.

Inquirer Covers Fast and Furious

Surprisingly, they come down on Holder much harder than many other media outfits, and suggest it’s time for the Attorney General to be more forthcoming about how this happened, and this is the real shocking quote coming from the Inquirer, “Finally, [Holder] needs to explain how the administration went from wanting to ban assault weapons to supplying them to drug lords.”

In the mean time, the Washington Post and the New York Times are both busy carrying the water for the Administration, and trying to turn this into a discussion about our gun laws. I noticed the media is now more willing to come down on Fast and Furious, now that I think it’s clear who they plan to make the scapegoats. It seems unbelievable that an operation like this was concocted at lower levels, rather than directed from above, but both the WaPo and the Times don’t seem to want to acknowledge it. It’s rare that I offer kudos to the Philadelphia Inquirer, but in this case they deserve it.

Ten Year Felony? Slap on the Wrist!

As Dave Hardy notes, the WaPo has finally gotten around to acknowledging Fast and Furious as an actual scandal, but naturally their star anti-gun reporter Sari Horwitz, can’t do it without a healthy dose of deception and apologism:

Agents along the border had long been frustrated by what one ATF supervisor later called â€œtoothlessâ€ laws that made it difficult to attack gun-trafficking networks. Straw buyers â€” people with no criminal record who purchase guns for criminals or illegal immigrants who canâ€™t legally buy them â€” are subject to little more than paperwork violations. Even people convicted of buying AK-47s meant for the cartels typically just get probation for lying on a federal form attesting that they were buying the guns for themselves. With such a light penalty, it is hard to persuade those caught to turn informant against their bosses. And federal prosecutors rarely want to bring such charges because they do not consider the effort worth their time, according to ATF supervisors.

In what world is a ten year mandatory prison sentence and a quarter of a million dollar fine “toothless?” That’s up there with armed robbery. It took me three minutes to look that up and double check my facts just to be sure. I’m not at all convinced it would be that hard for Ms. Horwitz. I can only assume the reason she’s reporting untruths is because the truth doesn’t fit the narrative, which is the need for more laws.

And this is unfortunate, because the rest of it this lengthy article otherwise pretty good.

Dum Dum Bullets

Lots of talk on the internet and media about the Norwegian killer using “exploding bullets.” I’m going to bet this is not the case, and this is an instance of Norwegian doctors not having a lot of experience treating gunshot wounds. Most rifle rounds are going to fragment and cause horrific wound channels.

The term dum dum bullet is somewhat antiquated, and to use it to describe modern JHP ammunition is not really correct. The name comes from the Dum Dum arsenal, near Calcutta in British India, where they were invented. Their inventor was Neville Bertie-Clay. The bullet he invented is today what we would call a soft tip, or soft point, which is now commonly used in hunting, but rarely used for police or civilian self-defense rounds.

It’s been disheartening but not surprising watching how ignorantly the press is misconstruing what “Dum Dum” bullets actually are. They are, essentially, common hunting rounds. They do not explode inside the body. Rifle rounds, traveling typical speeds of about mach 2.5 to mach 3, generate enough energy to cause horrific wounds in their own right. That’s why they are used in hunting.

Exceeding Lawful Authority

It’s amazing how many progressive types don’t get the problem with the multi-long-gun reporting requirement implemented by ATF. Many of them were quick to jump on George Bush for liberally interpreting executive authority when that authority brushed up against other constitutional rights, but Obama does it, and it’s just peachy.

Great Article About Lobbying

Kudos to the Arizona Republic for taking time to actually understand the issue of lobbying, and write a pretty good article on it. It details the kind of work that goes into passing legislation. This is the kind of attitude you gain from victories, and confidence:

He said he doesn’t consider this year’s legislative defeats as failures.

“We are perfectly willing to encounter a defeat and learn from it and learn who our friends are and aren’t and what we need to change to make the bill go through,” Heller said. “We’re willing to be defeated if it moves us forward.”

Rathner said they learned from Brewer’s vetoes, saying the groups will try to craft bills next session that are more specific. He said the lobbyists will work closely with Brewer’s staff to develop something she can sign.

It’s not a defeat, just a temporary setback. The other side used to speak in this manner, but you don’t hear them singing that tune any longer. They can even get their bills heard, let alone far enough along to actually be defeated or vetoed.

Do Newspapers Even Hire Editors Anymore?

I was reading an article about a cat hoarder (these seem to happen about once every few months in this area) from the newspaper of record where I grew up, and I was amused at the sad lack of editorial oversight:

Shelter workers and volunteers spent much of Wednesday afternoon vaccinating and bathing the cats, as well as applying flee vaccine.

One of the best flee-removal treatments, Calgiano said, was Dawn soap.

â€œIt kills fleas on contact,â€ she said.

I was completely unaware there was a flee vaccine on the market now. Amazing what the animal health divisions of pharmaceutical companies are coming out with these days. The big problem with cats is that some of them just get the wanderlust, and then one day you never see them again. No parent will ever have to explain to teary-eyed little Mary why Rufus the cat wandered off. We truly live in miraculous times.

But all snark aside, I know the business is tough these days, but what I think boggles the mind is they got it right on the first and fourth try.

Speaking of in the Tank

CNN softballs an interview with Michael Bloomberg, describing New York City’s gun laws as “wonderful.”

No wonder no one watches CNN anymore. This isn’t journalism.

We’re Talking Hull Crushing Depths Here

Our favorite Washington Post reporter, Sari Horwitz, is at it again helping the Democrats and the Administration blame our gun laws for operation Fast and Furious:

Titled â€œOutgunned,â€ the 26-page report recommends stronger penalties for â€œstraw purchasersâ€ who illegally buy guns for others and a reporting requirement for multiple purchases of long guns, such as AK-47s. Cummings will hold a forum on the report Thursday on Capitol Hill.

It’s really puzzled me how multiple long-gun reporting would have helped this situation, given that ATF knew about these sales, because they were reported by dealers, and told the dealers to process them anyway. In short, even given what they knew about, they couldn’t mount a competent enforcement operation.

And increasing penalties against straw purchasing? How is that going to help when ATF is facilitating straw purchasing? The penalty for straw purchasing is ten years in prison. How exactly is that toothless? Well, it’s pretty clear why:

Larry Alt, a lawyer and senior ATF field agent, testified that â€œwe donâ€™t get traction with the U.S. attorneyâ€™s office. They donâ€™t follow through. They donâ€™t want to prosecute cases.â€

That’s Obama’s justice department, folks. Get a gun control supporting administration and suddenly prosecutions under gun laws fall… for people who are actually criminals.

Agents also said their efforts to combat the cartels would be strengthened with a federal statute criminalizing gun trafficking.

Isn’t gun trafficking already illegal? And pardon me if I’m not worried such a law is going to make it difficult for people like you and me to “traffic” firearms across state lines for the purpose of recreation and competition.

Sari Horwitz chooses to help deflect blame on to our gun laws because like many of our opponents, the only gun violence they really care about is that which can be used to advocate for new controls.

UPDATE: John Richardson notes that the report in question was available on the WaPo web site before it was available on .gov servers. More evidence the WaPo is just a mouthpiece.