The Media – Page 28 – Shall Not Be Questioned

The Inquirer Is Shameless

Recently Pennsylvania had a Game Commission officer killed in the line of duty. The first one since 1914. These are people who’s daily job involves them confronting people who are guaranteed to be armed just by the very nature of what the Game Commission regulates. The Inquirer is using the death of the officer as an excuse to blame Pennsylvania’s gun laws. I feel dirty even sending traffic to their rag.

UPDATE: Unlike the trash papers in Philadelphia, the Gettysburg Times gives a different viewpoint:

Johnson is now incarcerated without bail in the Adams County Correctional Complex, and has been charged with criminal homicide, felon in possession of a weapon, flight to avoid apprehension, carrying a firearm without a license, possessing an instrument of crime, and resisting arrest or interfering with an officer in the performance of his or her duty.

So presumably the Inquirer believes it better to impose more regulations on the lawful people who have somehow avoided shooting at Game officers for a century, in order to stop a convicted felon who was already prohibited by law from even touching a firearm or ammunition. The Times also notes the guy has been in trouble before:

On Jan. 9, JohnsonÂ was also accused of burglarizing Reddingâ€™s Hardware,Â 279 S. Franklin St., Gettysburg, in which he reportedly stole between 20 and 25 handguns.

The guns were taken from a display case and valued at an estimated $12,000 to $15,000.

Stealing from an FFL is a federal felony, in addition to being a state felony. This guy should never have been on the streets to shoot anyone.

Sorry State of Gun Control

I too am sympathetic toward the poor beleaguered workers at the National Tracing Center in West Virginia. I would very much like to give them the opportunity to seek out a more pleasing vocation! This is telling in terms of how the Times views this issue:

Congressâ€™s obstructionism doesnâ€™t end there. Until seven years ago, police were able to consult the A.T.F. archives of gun traces from dealer to owner.

Congress’ obstructionism? So the problem here is that Congress, those damned elected Representatives of the people (at least in theory), are getting in the way of unelected bureaucrats who could just run this state so much more efficiently (Ja Wohl!) if Congress just got out of the way.

The Hidden Life of Guns

Here I thought that they just basically sat in my safe when I wasn’t using them. The Washington Post tells a different story. It’s actually more balanced than you probably would have seen out of the Post in the past.

Fact Checking Fact Checking

From Mother Jones:

I factchecked this, and the answer is: Not exactly. TheÂ Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found that states with tougher gun laws in factÂ export the guns used in crimes(PDF) at a much lower rate than states with weak gun laws. That is, those illegal guns handled by criminals and confiscated at crime scenes are most often traced back to states that don’t do background checks for all guns purchased at gun showsÂ [CLICK HERE FOR MOJO’S ARTICLE ON GUN SHOWS], that don’t require purchase permits, that don’t prosecute gun dealers who violate background check laws, and that don’t allow local law enforcement to approve or deny conceal carry permits. Findings confirm that regulationsÂ dodeter criminals from getting guns.

ATF hasn’t found squat. That’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a gun control advocacy group, who has drawn that conclusion. My fact checking tells a very different story. Lesson for Mother Jones: If you’re going to fact check, it helps to have the facts.

Just an Ordinary Gun Owner

This Wisconsin State Journal article, touted by the Brady folks, would have you believe that your ordinary joe gun owners are turning against lawful carry in the Badger State. But it turns out that Adam Schesch is a left wing activist, and a professor at University of Wisconsin, Madison, with seemingly strong ties to the peace movement, and who is described in this article as someone who participated in a “Socialist Scholars Panel.”

This, folks, is deliberate obfuscation on the part of the media, given that they only mentioned that he was a gun owner who once protested a gun ban. They fail to mention he’s Dr. Adam Schesch, and that he’s a highly left-wing college professor. Why? Because it goes against the narrative they are trying to create. The false narrative they are trying to create.

Dr. Schesch is certainly entitled to his opinion, but he’s not entitled to pass off as an ordinary, run of the mill gun owner, or part of the larger Second Amendment community. He is no more representative of your average gun owner than this guy is a representative of your average hunter. That the media is only too eager to pass college professors off as average joes says quite a lot about their reliability on being up front and transparent with the reading public on the issue of firearms policy.

Interesting Views on Hunting

The Lebanon Daily News says they support hunting, but not pigeon shooting, but call hunting a “blood sport,” in the same category as pigeon shooting. Actually, no. Blood sports are things like dog fighting, cock fighting, bear baiting, and bullfighting, though I’m sure HSUS appreciates the subtle smear against hunting. I’m sure they also appreciate the Daily News repeating their lie that Pennsylvania is the only state that permits pigeon shoots. No doubt they greatly appreciate the entire article, which promotes HSUS’s agenda in Pennsylvania.

Sorry, Daily News, you’re not pro-hunting just because you post a few hunting pictures. You’re actively supporting an organization that attempted to make that very act a crime. You’re no friend of hunters.

New York Times on SanFran Image Ban

The NYTimes has its expected take on the San Francisco transit authority’s allowing SAF to put up the posters for their shindig.
Bonus PSH in the last paragraph. A gardener who is not only hoplophobic, but aichmophobic? Really?

The Project Runway judges need some history lessons

Watching Project Runway on the DVR and one of the challenges ended up with a collection designed with a theme of “Military and Lace”. Michael Kors made an offhand comment about the combination being an unusual combination. I think he should check out some historical uniforms…

(An amusing side note; I wrote up this post on my TX2 laptop, a predecessor of the one being pimped on the show.)

Dinosaurs That Don’t Evolve, Die

Part of the rationalization that the stinker in chief at the Las Vegas Review-Journal uses for the Righthaven lawsuits is that newspapers are being driven out of business by bloggers infringing copyrighted newspaper articles.Â While I agree that infringement is wrong (although usually unintentional), it is not particularly plausible that this is the source of the problems that newspapers are having, for a number of reasons:

1. It is true that if you copy too much text from a newspaper, it may discourage some readers from clicking through to read the article.Â On the other hand, how many readers click through to read the article, if it was copied in full, anyway?Â I know that I often find myself clicking through, even when a blogger has copied a substantial amount of the article–to see if they have quoted the article out of context.

2. Traffic that bloggers get because of an alleged copyright infringement are a tiny fraction of the hits that a newspaper receives as a result of Google searches, links from Drudge Report, or even clickthroughs caused by bloggers linking to an article on the newspaper’s website.Â The problem that newspapers are having isn’t because of bloggers, but the collapse of traditional dead trees publishing.Â Bloggers linking to newspapers are almost certainly a net gain for newspapers–unless, of course, you decide to turn an innocent, one-time mistake (as my co-blogger on The Armed Citizen made) into a $75,000 suit.Â At that point, the negative publicity and aggressive delinking from such newspapers is almost certainly going to turn such a lawsuit campaign into a net loss.

Yes, a newspaper deserves to get all the ad volume it would enjoy if everyone clicked through, instead of reading the article elsewhere–but there are polite, sensible ways to solve the problem, and there are impolite, irrational ways to do so.Â My guess is that the editor of the Review-Journal wouldn’t trim his fingernails with a chainsaw, or stop his car by slamming it into brick wall.Â There are less drastic solutions–which nearly all newspaper organizations use, such as an email or letter demanding that you take down an infringement.Â (At least, I’ve read that this is the case; I’ve never had a news organization make such a request.)

In nearly all cases, bloggers have made an innocent mistake, through ignorance of the law (which is very easy, since fair use law is extraordinarily vague), or excess enthusiasm for a particularly well-written article.Â A blogger who ignores a request, or who keeps infringing again and again–I can see that a lawsuit might make sense there.Â But to go directly from one article infringing to a $75,000 lawsuit is just crazy.

Anyway, all that to point to this article at Nieman Journalism Lab, which points to an innovative solution to the dinosaur news media problem:

It is a head-turner, which seems to be, at first, an only-in-Utah story. The Deseret Morning News, KSL TV, and KSL Radio, all owned by one company, the Deseret Management Co., a for-profit arm of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, are combining operations.

Instead of each organization sending a reporter to the statehouse to cover an event, one reporter covers it.Â The difference between radio, television, and newspaper is evaporating in the digital age.Â The Review-Journal is trying to use the tyrannosaurus rex approach of ferocity to stave off the inevitable end of the Age of Dinosaurs.Â (Unlike the movie Jurassic Park–where the T. rex at least has the good taste to eat the lawyer.)

Ignorance About Gun Sales

It’s a real shame to see a new media source like Town Hall making some of the same, ignorant mistakes as the old media when it comes to gun laws. Terry Jeffery has done just that in his concern we’re selling guns and explosives to foreign terrorists. I have some good news for you Terry. Under federal law, it’s illegal for foreign nationals to purchase firearms, whether they are on the terror watch list or not. The only exception are those who are permanent residents living in the United States. And don’t act so shocked an explosives license was issued. Likely a case of mistaken identity, like if his company were called “Kennedy Demolition,” and his name was Ted. That’s right, Terry. You see, terrorists don’t exactly tend to have social security numbers, you know. It’s just a list of names. But you did you research on this beforehand, I’m sure.