Associated Press Offers Anti-Biased Spin on Assault Weapons Ban Issue
The Associated Press via The Seattle Times have run an article that shows typical media bias on the issue of gun control. While recent high profile crimes are mentioned in the introduction, no mention is made that over all crime is actually down while firearms sales have been up:
“After 2009 ended in a hail of high-profile gun violence, Washington state’s gun-control advocates are frustrated by an apparent lack of political support for an assault weapons ban, warning that the state will likely face more deadly shootings without it.
“The bill comes just weeks after a spate of deadly police shootings, and proponents of the ban say those killings should force politicians to confront gun violence.”
Is it really fair to high-light recent shootings of police officers, especially when this tragedy did not actually involve a so-called assault weapon.
More Guns “Off the Streets” in Bean Town
The Boston Herald and Associated Press proudly announce that Worcester has managed to get “241 guns off the streets.” This was the number of handguns that were collected in exchange for a retail gift card. The news makes a big deal that these included “76 semiautomatic pistols.”
“Those who dropped off firearms were given gift cards to Wal-Mart. Rifles were redeemed for $25, revolvers for $50 and semiautomatic pistols for $75.”
We’d like to ask who determines these prices? It seems like rifles should be worth more, and once again we ponder the fact that some prized positions, and highly valuable pieces of history were likely handed in and will now be destroyed.
Associate Press Highlights New Gun Laws With Expected Bias
The mainstream media has said for the past year, since Barack Obama was elected president that gun owners were concerned about new gun legislation, but now that many new favor gun owners, the Associated Press has noted these with concern. Here is a rather one-sided point on the issue:
“The NRA has a stranglehold on a lot of state legislatures,” said Kristin Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center, a gun control group in Washington. “They basically have convinced lawmakers they can cost them their seats, even though there’s no real evidence to back that up.”
Are these really a stranglehold, or actually just the perseveration of second amendment rights?
AP Spin on Detroit Gun Buyback
Even the Associated Press decided that the Detroit gun buyback was worthy news. A version of the story ran in the Battlecreek Inquirer as well as on WZZM News13′s Web site. Note this clever intro:
“Short of money and have a gun to unload? Detroit police will take the cold, hard steel off your hands for cold, hard cash.”
Filled with puns and clever writing, yes. Filled with facts, no. $20 is hardly cold, hard cash. And anyone short on money would be better served taking the gun to a pawnbroker or gun show. $20 for a firearm is just sad!
Seizures Up at Border: AP Highlights Only Mexico’s Plight
Some interesting spin on the situation in the border lands this week. The Associated Press is noting that the seizures of cash and guns are up, and includes this passage:
“U.S. authorities on Tuesday reported a spike in seizures of guns and cash along the Mexican border since they began assigning more agents to stem the flow of southbound contraband.”
However, The San Diego Union Tribune gives a slightly different view of the picture, one that appears a little less biased. Notice that this story doesn’t paint it just as guns traveling to peaceful and hardworking Mexico (that part is a joke):
“Stepped-up enforcement efforts have led to more seizures of illegal drugs, guns and cash flowing back and forth across the US-Mexico”
We’d of course like to ask The Associated Press why they think guns were flowing south of the border? And why there is little mention of illegal drugs flowing north to American. Isn’t that the bigger issue? These guns are flowing to fight a gun war, and those drugs are flowing to our country. That’s the part we should be more concerned with frankly.
Who Guards the Guards: To Live and Sell Guns in LA Edition
The Associated Press is reporting that a Los Angeles police has been indicted for attempting to illegal export firearms. This is noteworthy, because this is just the latest example of a case where law enforcement supplied guns to criminals.
Meanwhile law-abiding citizens are continually coming under attack for so-called straw purchases and gun show loopholes. The real loophole here is that the guards aren’t being guarded closely enough.
UPS Worker Steals Guns
There is a regular argument in the mainstream media that all “illegal” guns somehow start off as “legal” and that it must be the gun owners who make straw sales, at gun shows asking no questions and sell said guns to criminals. But in fact, many legal guns are illegally stolen. The latest example is from The San Jose Mercury News, which ran an Associated Press story this week citing how a UPS worker “is facing charges for allegedly stealing guns from shipments and selling at least on the street.”
Not only did 22-year-old Calvin Bailey flee the scene after a metal detector went off, but he returned to the work the next day! According to the story police found at least two other guns that he had taken from shipments. Of course we expect this to blow back on law abiding gun owners, because there is going to be the argument that where there are guns, there are criminals who will steal them.
