Mexico City Mayor Claims Undisputed
In a news story mostly about the new crime legislation in Chicago, CBS2Chicago.com included this passage:
“Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard Casauban said at the forum that 85 percent of the guns used by Mexican drug cartels come from the U.S., according to a published report.”
The problem is that this remains untrue. It was widely debunked a year ago, yet the mainstream media still reports this figure as if it is fact.
CBS News Loose With Facts on Gun Story, Cites 90 Percent Number Again
In a story posted on its Web site titled “Gun Laws Loosen in States, Even as Gun Policy Changes Little Under Obama,” writer Stephanie Condon is a little “loose” with the facts. The article includes this passage:
“‘This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States,’ Mr. Obama said in Mexico City in April, 2009. ‘More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border.’
“The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said the administration’s plans to help Mexico fight drug cartels would be inadequate without new gun restrictions, but the administration’s call to reinstitute the Assault Weapons Ban went nowhere. The administration has also failed to close the gun show loophole.”
The problem with this statement is that the 90 percent number, as we’ve reported on for nearly a year, is that it is wrong. 90 percent of guns recovered in Mexico do NOT come from the United States. This story clearly has the typical mainstream media liberal agenda to present a message without presenting all the facts.
WaPo Editorial Provides False Facts: Cites 90% Figure Again
An editorial doesn’t need to be unbiased, but it shouldn’t try to use information that has been proven false to make its point. In this weekend’s Washington Post editorial titled “Massacre in Mexico,” the paper cites this fact:
“Some 90 percent of the guns seized from operations against organized crime in Mexico come from the United States.”
As we have reported throughout 2009, this is false. Some 90 percent of guns seized in Mexico do NOT come from the United States. Let’s hope the media does a better job of reporting on these facts in 2010.
Ammo Story Goes International Via WaPo
Apparently there has been so much hype about an increase in the sale of ammunition in the United States that the story continues to go international, and alas with the same liberal bias. This week The Canadian Free Press ran a story with this passage:
“In a year of job losses, foreclosures and bag lunches, Americans have spent record-breaking amounts of money on guns and ammunition. The most obvious sign of their demand: empty ammunition shelves. At points during the past year, bullets have been selling faster than factories could make them.”
First, we’d like ask our colleagues north of the border for a source on the point that bullets are actually being sold “faster than factories could make them.” Yes, ammo is selling, but so far even the American press hasn’t stated that dubious claim. Or has it?
A closer look at the story reveals that this wasn’t actually original copy – as in an original article from Canada, but is in fact just a passage quoted from The Washington Post. This story of course offers the usual suggestions that it is fear of Obama taking away guns that are driving the sales.
Additionally, what the Canadian abridged version fails to point out is at least in the WaPo version, which stresses that America is involved in two wars right now. Factor in the additional training, and maybe the ammo shortage isn’t just people hording. While WaPo offers this suggestion, via the argument from ammo makers, the rest of the mainstream media – including that in Canada now – just blames gun owners of course.
Firing Back: Ammo Shortage Caused by…
The UnionLeader.com poses and interesting question: “What’s triggering a shortage of guns?” Consider this another example of the mainstream media being a little late on the story. As we’ve complained for months now, this is really old news, but the issue of ammo and even gun shortage comes up time and time again.
Maybe if these stories stopped appearing readers who were on the fence about stockpiling guns and ammo would stop stockpiling guns and ammo, and you know what… the stories would probably stop too. But instead, we’d probably see twisted stores claiming that gun owners now see the light that legislation isn’t coming, that fears about the president were unfounded or that many decided guns aren’t just safe. In other words, look for the MSM to concoct some farfetched stories without doing the requisite research. If it easy enough to report about false fears, why not report about other falsehoods.
Candidate From South Carolina Holds Machine Gun Social
Dean Allen, a GOP candidate for South Carolina’s Adjutant General, held a “machine gun social” last Saturday. Allen, from Greenville SC, said the fund raiser was his way of celebrating the 2nd Amendment as well as showing solidarity against gun control opponents. Read more
Summer Recap: Top Gun Stories
So much has happened over the past couple of months that we felt it was time to do a quick recap. Here are some topics that we’d like to close the book on for good.
Gun and Ammo Sales Have Increased – OLD NEWS. This story started in the dead of winter in January as President Obama took office, picked up steam in the spring thaw and simmered all summer. Enough already.
Gun Buybacks Take Guns Off the Street – TOTAL SPIN. Have any criminals actually handed in their guns? No, more likely widows sold off extremely valuable firearms for a gift card at Costco. Gun buybacks didn’t take guns off the street, but it made for a nice photo opportunity.
Guns at Town Hall Meetings – TOTAL SPIN. No one brought a gun into a hall where the president was speaking (unless you count the Secret Service agents). Worse, the mainstream media has repeatedly claimed that people showed up with “loaded guns.” Did any reporter check the magazines to confirm?
U.S. Guns Fuel Mexican Drug War – OLD NEWS/TOTAL SPIN. Every day hundreds of illegal immigrants cross the border. Every day hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal drugs cross the border. Is this reported? No, because it is considered old news. So why does the mainstream media continue to report on the U.S. guns used in Mexico’s drug wars? And when will the media report that the numbers and statistics are totally wrong and off base? Probably not soon enough.
Crain’s Business: Better Late Than Never on Gun Sales Story
Do investors really trust Crain’s Business with up to date information on the world of business? It makes you wonder if this is the case after reading this past weekend’s piece titled “Post-election jump in gun, ammo sales eases, sellers say.”
For the record, the November elections are just two months away, so this story is about 10 months late I think. Of course even the introduction sounds like something you might have read… oh say, in January or February of this year:
“The ascension of a Democratic president and a Democratic-controlled Congress gave rise to fears among gun owners of renewed gun control efforts, with rumors of new taxes and tracking technology for ammunition fueling a rush on small-arms purchases and ammunition hoarding.”
Let’s hope this is the last we hear of this story. It should be solidly filed under “OLD NEWS.”
Old News: No Fly Suspects Can Buy Guns
File this one under old news. Robert Friedman of the Pocono Record goes on the record in an editorial that takes aim at the fact that “firearms sales have surged President Barack Obama’s election” and that those buying the firearms might have been on “terror watch lists.”
But Friedman’s editorial has problems. He notes this surge, but then mentions that 963 background checks resulted in matches with the lists, from 2004 to 2009. Obama was only elected last November, so the point is sort of suspect. A bigger issue is that of those 963 individuals how many are really a threat? People end up on lists by accident, and for various other reasons.
Yes, it is absolutely wrong that terrorists would get their hands on guns. But it is ironic that the mainstream media continually demands that the government does its job to protect the citizens. That is until terrorist’s rights are violated (as in water boarding), or if the FBI introduces new wiretapping practices. But an important fact should be stressed. How many terrorists have committed mass shootings? Don’t you think if nearly 1,000 real terrorists had purchased guns over the past five years there would have been a few shootings by now?
