Christian Science Monitor Continues to Cite 90 Percent Number
Is it possible that some in the media just like a fact so much that they’ll continue to report on it, despite the “fact” that it isn’t even true? The latest example comes from The Christian Science Monitor, which notes the number of gun shops along “the border” with Mexico, but worse the outlet continues to spew that notorious 90 percent number, long after it has been disproved.
“The cartels hire people without criminal records to buy a handful of weapons at a time, from licensed dealers – there are 6,600 along the border alone – or private individuals at gun shows, and then drive them across the border. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Explosives estimates that 90 percent of the traced firearmss [sic] recovered in Mexico originated in the US.”
First, what exactly is meant by along the border? It isn’t as if there are gun shops with signs that say, “last gun shop before you leave the U.S.A.” No, these just happen to be privately owned shops located in towns 100 or so miles within the border. When you factor in that there many reasonably sized cities near the border with Mexico, it is easy to understand that there are going to be gun shops. Should these businesses close because they happen to be too close to Mexico?
But worse, how can the CSM cite a number that even BATFE doesn’t support anymore. There has never been proof of this number, and on the contrary it has been essentially disproved, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping the mainstream media from quoting this figure.
World News Heard Now Hears, and Reports on, M1 Story
Finally, others in the media are starting to pick up on the M1 story, and we thought we were the only reporters looking into the issue. Mary Bargeman at World News Heard Now has posted an interesting read titled “More Proof of Anti-Constitutional Agenda with Gun Sale Nix.”
As much of the mainstream media has gone out of its way to note that President Obama hasn’t instituted new anti-gun legislation, it is nice to see someone report that the administration is no friend of the gun lobby. In fact, this is the latest proof that the Obama administration is actually hostile to gun owners. Read more
Mainstream Media Finally Picks Up M1 Story, Brady Campaign Notes Concern
After nearly two weeks of silence from the mainstream media, FoxNews.com has noted that the Obama administration has blocked the importation of M1 rifles from South Korea. According to the story from FoxNews, the South Koreans wanted to sell one million M1 rifles to gun collectors in America – but numbers closer to 100,000 had previously been reported in the Korean media.
Not surprisingly, the anti-gun zealots have supported the move to block the importation of the guns. FoxNews.com quoted Dennis Henigan of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence as noting:
“Guns that can take high-capacity magazines are a threat to public safety. Even though they are old, these guns could deliver a great amount of firepower. So I think the Obama administration’s concerns are well-taken.” Read more
Kansas City Star Editorial Says U.S. Shares Blame for Mexico’s Woes
In an editorial for The Kansas City Star, Mary Sanchez notes “Mexico’s drug problems are ours, and vice versa.” That is debatable. She tries to offer a misguided history lesson, which is fine. But then she attempts to point the blame at American firearms, and that’s where her editorial needs to be called out. Read more
Gun Collecting: The Martini-Henry, Rifle of the British Empire
Many shots have been heard around the world. And each time it was fired from a different rifle. During the Victorian era that rifle was the Martini-Henry. At the end of the 1964 film Zulu, which chronicled the events of the almost infamous frontier outpost of Rorke’s Drift along Zululand where approximately 100 British soldiers fended off an attack by some four thousand Zulu warriors, Stanley Baker replies that the victory wasn’t merely a miracle, but rather, “a short chamber Boxer Henry .45-caliber miracle.”
Whether the real Lieutenant John Chard ever said such a statement is most certainly lost to time, but the fact remains that the cartridge and the weapon that fired those bullets played a very decisive role in determining the outcome of the battle. In many ways the British conflict with the Zulu has become symbolized by the rifle of the day as much as the red jackets and tropical sun helmets worn by the European combatants. This rifle is the Martini-Henry, and today it has become a favorite among collectors. It remains the embodiment of the classic Victorian “Thin Red Line,” and is English through and through. Read more
Did Australia Destroy Firearms Used in The Pacific?
(UPDATED: Weapons Confiscated were from the film The Great Raid)
As news continues to (barely) flow about the reported ban on the importation of vintage M1 rifles from South Korea news has surfaced that many other vintage World War II era equipment was recently destroyed in Australia.
At the Historicon Convention, historian consultant Dale Dye reportedly related his troubles with the Australian government. Apparently Dye had imported scads of World War II era rifles, Thompson submachine guns and other firearms from Korea to use in filming The Pacific, which aired earlier this year on HBO. When the time came to leave Australia the government confiscated all of them, and had the firearms cut up into scrap metal!
And we thought the American gun buybacks were bad news for collectors!
Updated: We spoke with Dale Dye, who clarified:
“It wasn’t The Pacific but it was the film The Great Raid, which was also filmed in Australia. I was told that after production wrapped the Australian government confiscated the firearms and these were ‘dealt with.’ I told that to mean destroyed. That’s what I was told, but I can’t confirm for a fact that the guns were in fact destroyed. As for the weapons used in The Pacific, those did in fact come home with us.”
Who Guards the Guards: Ex-FBI Agent Sent to Jail For Selling Guns
The Associated Press, via The Houston Chronicle noted this week that former FBI agent John Thomas Shipley has been convicted of violating federal firearms laws after he acted as a gun dealer, and illegally sold 51 weapons from 2005 to 2008.
The news story noted that at least one of these guns was later traced by Mexican authorities following a shootout south of the border.
Do Gun Buybacks Work Asks CT Post
Finally someone in the mainstream media is asking the question that we’ve asked time and time again, and that is whether gun buyback programs and special events actually get guns off the street. In a story for the CT Post this is not only asked, but it notes that under the Bush Administration the federal gun buy-back program was ended, and replaced with the federal state Project Safe Neighborhoods. Instead of looking to pay for guns, this program concentrates on prosecuting convicted felons caught with handguns. Read more
Associated Press Doesn’t Call Out Calderon Lies
If an American politician suggested something that wasn’t true we’d expect the American mainstream media to call them out on it. Even when a foreign leader says something that is patently wrong, the MSM usually steps up. The exception is when it involves guns, and then the MSM just gives politicians a pass, as the Associated Press has once again done with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Read more
BBC News Quotes Mexican President: “US Irresponsible on Gun Trade”
In a news story from the BBC, Mexican President Felipe Calderon offers a few bold statements. First, he is quoted as saying, “I don’t honestly think the United States has many any significant efforts to deal with drug addiction,” but he then makes the even bolder statement of saying, “the American weapons industry is a veracious and ambitious industry. It’s clear to me that they’ve created conflict in poor country in Africa just to sell weapons, and in the same way they’re making money in this situation here in Mexico.” Read more
