The story: “Ways to Play Higher Demand for Guns,” noted:

“Over the past 27 years, wholesale shipments for handguns, long guns and ammunition have increased at a combined compounded annualized growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5%. However, the CAGR has almost tripled to 15.1% during the past five years due to, we believe, increased concerns about personal safety, potential adverse changes in legislation and an increase in overall interest, especially among women and first-time buyers.”

The question now is whether the mainstream media will actually pick up on this story? And the other question is whether there was really a pick up in gun sales, or just the MSM’s imagination?

“Lawyers for the city and the Albany Police Officers Union, which is part of Council 82, said the records should remain sealed because the officers who possessed the guns may have engaged in misconduct or possibly illegal activity. Therefore, they argued, the records fall into a category of ‘personnel’ files which precludes disclosure under state Civil Service Law because they could be used to evaluate an officer’s employment status.”

Now this could be considered just one side of the story, but let’s consider this fact:

“No officers have been disciplined, arrested or passed over for a promotion due to the gun purchases, according to multiple departmental sources.”

It is also worth noting – at least to us – that Albany is just a couple of hours away from New York City, and yet Big Apple Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn’t said a peep about this story. The mayor has spoken out about illegal gun sales in states hundreds of miles away, targeted gun shows and so-called straw purchases but a sale of truly illegal guns in practically his backyard and he’s quiet on the issue.

After covering both sides with reasonable fairness, the kicker of the story – the final sentence – throws in this for good measure:

“Meanwhile, 30,000 people a year are killed by gunfire in the United States.”

Nice to see that some writers just can’t keep the bias out.

“Fears of limits from a liberal president are firing sales, but gun-makers only have so many weapons in their arsenals.”

A “shooting spree” is a term that is often associated with criminal shootings even though the word spree means a frolic. Spree is misused to convey irony associated with violence.  To use “gun spree” instead of the more neutral term “shopping spree” taints those of us who exercise our 2^nd Amendment Right as criminals. To say that manufacturers only have “so many weapons in their arsenals” is a too cute scare tactic. According to Webster’s New Dictionary, an arsenal is technically a magazine of stores for warfare. Therefore gun makers and buyers must be going to war with someone. It isn’t a stretch to infer that the Administration and its policies are the enemy of these law-abiding companies and citizens. More fear mongering from CNN.

The story mentions Ruger’s SR-556 and says “[T]he rifle is useful according to the company for shooting varmints and for ‘personal defense’, presumable pesky biped varmints.” Biped varmints are humans. To say those who shoot rodents are just as willing to shoot people infers that SR-556 owners are murderous psychopaths. Almost everyone who has shot someone in self-defense feels terrible about it. Using deadly force against an attacker isn’t cute or humorous.

When describing that gun and ammunition sales have increased over the past year, the story says, “There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence of mania in the sector.” Mania is a mental illness so therefore those who are fueling the sales increases are crazy. This is one more example of media bias against those of us who exercise our 2^nd Amendment Right.

Ridicule is an effective method of attacking an opponent. It makes them look stupid and any argument they make illogical. But this doesn’t help the public weigh the pros and cons of an issue. Hard news should give us hard facts, not quick laughs. Leave the puns and ridicule for the tabloid media outlets that don’t let the facts get in the way of a clever one-liner.  Is this CNN story anecdotal evidence that a once great hard news network has fallen to the level of a tabloid news network?

“Most gun owners think Obama wants to take away their weapons”

Yet, then the article goes on to mention exactly how many is “most,” and it is surprising:

“Gallup found that 55 percent of those who personally own a gun, 53 percent of those with a gun in their household, and 41 percent of all Americans believe Barack Obama ‘will attempt to ban the sale of guns in the United States while he is president.’”

Whether this is an issue or not, it is an interesting choice that “most” gun owners believe this. Since when is 55 percent most? That’s a majority yes, but is it even close to most. Factor in this disclaimer at the end of the story:

“The Gallup survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.”

Oh, so if we figure that the survey was off by four points, than it could be just 51 percent of those who personally own a gun in other words, just over half, again a far cry from “most.” This is another example of the media trying to put a spin on how gun owners really feel. Also compare this to how the same information was posted by Gallup, and you can see how the media swings things to make it seem more sensational. Here is Gallup’s headline for the same findings:

“Many Gun Owners Think Obama Will Try to Ban Gun Sales”

There is a big difference between many and most isn’t there.