Amnesty in Omaha Called a Success – We Question Why?

The streets in Omaha are safe again, guns are off the street and people need not fear. That’s the all around take coming from the media, which didn’t seem to offer any counter-point to the official line. While we expected the usual one-sided take, with the usual “guns off the streets,” there were some notable spins in this story. Read more after the jump.

WOWT.com (the NBC affiliate) offered an interesting take on the Russian designed SKS:

Sgt. Eric Nordby said they are making an impact. “What I’m most excited about is we did receive a SKS, which is an assault rifle, shoots a 762 by 39-caliber round or mm round. It can be a very dangerous round. It goes through houses, goes through walls and in a community it’s used out here on the streets, both that make of gun and that caliber.”  

Well, actually the SKS is actually chambered for 7.62x39mm. We think this was a slip by Officer Nordby, rather than him not knowing the difference between caliber and millimeter of a round. At least we hope so. And while we know that calibers of guns are not traditionally listed in the AP style guide we question why the web producers who posted this story didn’t take the time to correct identify this as 7.62x39mm – we assume that most news organizations would do this fact checking for electronics, technical specifications and model numbers of planes and cars, so why wasn’t this checked? Lazy journalism to us.

As for the point of the round going through walls, there are plenty of other bullets that could do more damage. The SKS is also not exactly a small rifle so we don’t see it as the primary choice of gangbangers and criminals.

It wasn’t much better at KETV 7 ABC, which also interviewed Norby:

“He showed off one that he said was a variant of an AK-47 and said he was thrilled to get it off the streets.”

He was quoted as saying:

“It’s a high-powered rifle, (fires) multiple shots and it’s commonly used in crimes around Omaha, in shootings and drive-bys and stuff.”

We can’t confirm this was the SKS, but there was no mention of any other AK-47 variant. Given the lack of information we’ll go out on a limb and conclude that this is the same gun. The problem if this is the case is that the SKS is not a variant of the AK-47. The SKS was introduced in 1944 and was designed by Sergei Gavrilovich Sionov, while the AK-47 came later being designed by Mikhail Kalashnikov. Again, where is the fact checking? We know these were quickly posted stories written for TV and later posted to the websites, but would this level of fact checking be so sloppy were it about cars? In this case it is akin to saying that the Ford Model A was a variant of the Model T. So it isn’t just nitpicking.

As for high-powered rifle, that’s also debatable. The fact is that the 7.62x39mm round is extremely common as well. That fact isn’t stated, but if you read this story you’d think it was some ultra super bullet from the quotes.

The CBS affiliate wasn’t left out of the action either, as Action3news.com offered another spin:

“Gun Amnesty Day was a big success according to police. In four hours, 38 revolvers, pistols, rifles, even shotguns, some of them considered illegal were dropped off to police. It all happened in an effort to fight the war on crime.”

We’re not sure how these events are judged on success? We’ve actually never seen a news story that says “this buyback or amnesty was a total bust,” but trust us, we’ll be quick to report on it when it happens. The question still is whether this is really a “fight on the war on crime.” We also question the point “some of them considered illegal.”

Only Fox 42 KPTM.com actually noted the illegal guns:

“Two illegal short–shotguns were also dropped off, however, no one that drops off a firearm faces any possession type charges.”

While that clears up the question, we still think (unfortunately) that the media too often would like all guns to be illegal. It does show in their reporting.