10News.com Story Paints Bad Picture of Gun Owners

Tempers run hot on many issues, and this is an unfortunate part of any debate. Worse still is that often times the media throws fuel on the fire, as 10News in San Diego did in reporting on California’s open carry law. The news station, in a piece titled “Gun Advocates Take Aim At State’s Leader’s Proposal,” also takes aim but at all gun owners, making many sound like extremists. The news station notes:

“San Diego Assemblymember Lori Saldana is getting threats and being confronted by armed protesters over her latest legislation, which would ban guns in public.” 

The news station also noted that “a gun advocate claimed to have driven five hundred miles,” and had a “loaded weapon in a backpack.” The site describes him as a “blogger,” but no link was provided, which begs the question as whether this is in fact a credible source. No name was given, nor was a link, so how can we trust anything about this particular source? It makes for a colorful read, and puts Saldana in a great light as she responded:

 ”It reflects poorly on all the responsible gun owners when someone takes it to the extreme like this.”

 What really reflects poorly is how this story was reported. It reflects poorly on credible journalism.