The Media – Page 50 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Too Lax

Maureen Downey, who is the queen of PSH for the Atlanta Journal and Constipation, isn’t happy with Georgia’s permitting process, or the new bill to ease carry restrictions:

Supporters defend the expansion by pointing out that it applies only to Georgians with permits to carry concealed weapons. That would be more reassuring if acquiring a permit involved a careful screening process, but it does not.

Under Georgia law, police chiefs and sheriffs are all but forced to grant concealed carry permits to anyone who can buy a handgun; there is no requirement that permit holders undergo safety training.

In contrast, California gives police far more discretion to deny concealed weapon permits. In a state of 37 million people, about 50,000 Californians are licensed to carry concealed weapons. Compare that to Georgia, a state of 9 million people where an estimated 300,000 people have permits.

Of course, what she’s hoping you don’t notice is what the criteria for issuing a license in Georgia actually are, and that applicants are indeed subject to background checks.

In addition to that, it’s worthwhile to note that Georgia has a lower violent crime rate than California. She also brings up the VPC’s debunked study showing Texas license holders are particularly prone to criminal behavior. Keep drinking the kool aid Ms. Downey. Tastes good doesn’t it?

Media Hatchet Job

Bruce lets us know about a Boston news program designed to make it look like gang bangers are going to gun shows and buying guns cash and carry.Â There’s a video preview linked if you haven’t already eaten dinner.

PSH From Omaha

This article is filled with so many problems, it would take me all night to fisk it:

The assault guns could be gaining popularity because they are relatively inexpensive and easy to find, Fidone said.

AK-47s are priced online for as low as $400. Other types of rifles cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars more.

That’s just one example of some of the blatant ignorance you’ll find in this poorly researched farce. It’s it funny, though, how all these articles seem to all follow the exact same pattern? Curious indeed.

Media Bias in Texas

Howard Nemerov calls out some pretty strong media bias when it comes to citizens defending themselves.Â In this case, a Texas CHL holder defending himself against a baseball bat wielding attacker that the media persistently described as a road rage incident.

Educating The Media

Dustin is on a roll today, now with some video on NSSF’s program to educate the media.Â Without the media scaring and misleading a public that’s largely ignorant of firearms, we’d have a much easier time getting our side of the story out there.Â No doubt few reporters bother to attend this type of seminar, and that’s a shame, but we have to try.Â If the gun control movement loses its parrots in the media, it’s over for them.

Gotta Get That Magazine Capacity Down to Four

I’m glad to see Dustin take this idiot to task.Â It’s amazing how quickly journalists, who have probably never fired a gun or shot competitively in their lives, suddenly become experts in how many rounds I do or don’t need when it suits their prejudices.

Op-Ed Placement

Quite often when you read op-eds in the main stream media, they were actually placed by groups that advocate on behalf of that organization. It’s a dirty little secret in the world of issue advocacy. I would not be shocked to discover that this op-ed was written by Violence Policy Center themselves, or some other issue oriented group. It’s about the decline of the American gun culture:

According to Sugarmann, those keeping the culture alive and those most vocal in resisting tighter regulations are white, middle-aged men whose enthusiasm for firearms, hunting and shooting is not shared by younger Americans.

I’m a white guy, last I checked, but I hope not middle aged; I don’t plan to die in my 60s. I’ve been advocating for this issue since I was a teenager in some form or another. In fact, most of my fellow bloggers are my age, or close to my age, and I can name more than a few who are younger than me.Â Oh yeah, and half the bloggers I linked to there are women.

Politicians tend to pander to the NRA, some more shamelessly than others. One of the Republican candidates for the 2008 presidential race, Mitt Romney, went so far as to falsely claim that he was a lifelong hunter and had received an official NRA endorsement in 2002.

Now we get to the heart of this article, the National Rifle Association. Op-eds like this serve one purpose, to forward rhetoric designed to weaken and trivialize the power of the organization. Maybe Bernd Debusmann is a coy political operative, but something about this op-ed just seems too well crafted. If it is Mr. Debusmann, my hats off to him; it’s shrewdly political, but I’d put my money on this being an op-ed placement by an issue group out to damage the NRA.

“We have traffic stops and find rounds or magazines or weapons in cars where there is a group of people in the car.”

In the past, he says police would find someone with a handgun that might hold 8 to 10 rounds, now they are facing assault weapons capable of holding 100 rounds in a single magazine.

“The guys that shoot these high capacity weapons just spray them in all directions and that is obviously an extreme danger wherever this happens,” said Hoskins.

Hoskins says people who carry such weapons are a major threat to police and the public.

Geez, I hope Hoskins doesn’t intercept any of the gun bloggers headed to Coal Creek today. He’ll crap his pants.

Category: The Media