By Larry Keane
CNN’s not even pretending to hide their antigun bias these days. Two reports over the weekend painted gun owners as a scourge on America while at the same time giving criminals – and Chinese communists – a free pass.
CNN posted a report on the soaring level of criminal violence in America. The report’s headline stated that 2021 could be the worst year in decades when it comes to crime. Statistics were cited from the Gun Violence Archive through mid-September, noting that 14,516 people died from what they define as gun violence, a nine percent increase over 2020. CNN also reported Gun Violence Archive’s data showed mass shootings are on the rise, claiming 498 were committed through mid-September, or 1.92 each day of the year. That ticked up, according to their calculations, by 15 percent over last year.
CNN and Gun Violence Archive define mass shootings as four or more people killed or wounded in an incident, excluding the suspect. That’s not how the FBI defines it, though. Armed American News’ Lee Williams pointed out earlier this year the figures are being inflated for shock value. Gun Violence Archive reported that in 2019 there were 417 mass shootings, but the FBI counted just 30, because they stick to a traditionally accepted definition. The FBI excludes incidents of self-defense, gang violence, drug violence and others.
CNN presented this report of crime spiking alongside information that firearm sales were also at record levels. The pairing of the information leads a reader to believe that there’s a correlation between the two – or even causation. The inference is that because guns are selling at record levels, criminal violence is the result.
Facts Matter
In fact, gun sales are at records levels. More than 21 million background checks were conducted for the sale of a gun in 2020 and so far in 2021, there have been over 12.4 million. Last year, an estimated 8.4 million people purchased a firearm for the first time and in the first six months of this year, over 3.2 million have also legally bought their first gun.
CNN’s article briefly touched on what might be driving the crime spike, pinning the causes on the pandemic and racial strife. However, COVID-19 symptoms don’t include sudden lawlessness or violent criminal intent. The report glosses over the tolerance by elected officials for rioting, looting and burning of cities. Portland, Ore., witnessed riots for over 100 days straight. Judges turned criminals out on reduced and no bail policies, only to have those criminals standing before the bench hours later for more heinous charges including murder.
The authors attempted to link rising crime with increased gun buying, not for a moment pausing to think that gun sales rose because of rising crime. It is an anathema to some reporters that Americans would defend themselves against lawlessness.
Praising Communist China
That wasn’t enough for CNN, though. The news outlet drew comparisons between the United States and China. They posited that both countries were born of armed conflict and now have radically different gun policies. The authors praised Communist China’s low rate of criminal violence involving a firearm.
“The difference is stark when it comes to public safety,” the CNN authors wrote. “Despite being the world’s most populous country, with 1.4 billion residents, China only records a few dozen gun crimes a year.”
CNN completely whitewashed that America was a nation founded in protecting personal liberties while China’s revolution was a communist takeover. The disarmament policies instituted by Mao Zedong not only stripped Chinese of their firearms, Chinese also lost the ability to protect themselves against their own government. The Washington Post reported Mao’s bloody campaign to “purify class ranks” resulted in the deaths of as many as 40-80 million Chinese. That started with landowners in 1949 and later included Christians, Chinese Nationalist sympathizers, counter-revolutionaries and “bad elements,” which included tens of thousands to millions executed in the 1950s by government authorities that controlled all the arms. Other deaths are attributed to disastrous policies that resulted in widespread famine.
About Control, Not Just Guns
This all seems outlandish, but this is what is being pushed by mainstream media. It’s not a new notion, but one that National Review’s Kevin Williamson noted in a series of articles that gun control groups and the politicians that carry their mantra into Congress and state capitals are keen on instituting gun laws on gun owners – who are exceedingly law-abiding. Gun purchasers are required to pass the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), or similar state systems before they can take possession of a firearm.
Criminals don’t pass background checks. They go around them and illegally obtain guns. They also don’t care, Williamson wrote. The striking part is gun control politicians aren’t proposing to hold criminals responsible. They’re only targeting the law-abiding. Williamson pointed out that gun control isn’t interested in controlling guns as much as they are interested in controlling gun culture.
“From that point of view, what matters is not that retail gun dealers and their clients are dangerous — which they certainly are not — but that they are icky.”
That notion was cemented even among a minority of gun owners who supported the view put forth by a New York Times columnist about the need for increased gun control. The commenter started with, “As a gun-owner and carry-concealed holder in Oklahoma,” and later distorted the Second Amendment before tarring every AR-15 owner as a loudmouth braggarts with little-man complexes.
“That kind of sneering really gets to the heart or the issue — this is not a crime-policy debate, but a culture-war exercise. It’s not ‘these guns,’ it’s ‘these people,’” Williamson wrote.
That’s what makes it easy for CNN to dismiss gun owners while overlooking criminals and murderous regimes when pushing a gun control narrative. It’s not really about the guns. It’s about you.
Larry Keane is Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs and General Counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms industry trade association.
CON. The cable opinion network. They make absolutely no attempt to hide their anti-gun/anti-gun owner bias. It is on full display 24/7/365. I can’t imagine that anyone or anything even remotely “pro-gun” will ever appear, much less be given equal time.
Here they go again. Communist Network News giving a lecture on firearms.
Of course, no mention is ever made of street gangs fighting over turf, drug gangs fighting over turf, and money, cartels fighting street gangs over turf and money,
and all the robbers, looters, serial killers out on the streets.
Maybe if these Democrat mayor’s would stop listening to a bunch of loud mouth criminals, rioters, looters protesters and stopped trying to defund-abolish the he police and let the police go out and arrest these criminals and put them away in prison for long sentences then crime would go down. It’s that simple.
In a lot of these Democrat cities, they have a “no bail required” policy and let criminals back into the streets to commit more crimes.
In commiefornia, in broad daylight , shoplifter’s walk into retail clothing stores and grab arm full of clothes off the racks and walk out to waiting cars and drive off. Nobody does anything to stop them. Some will take videos with their phones and it is shown on TV. If these shoplifter’s ever get caught they are never charged with a crime and are let go because they are “poor”.
The border patrol has no more room for all of the illegals coming up from Central America and they are putting them on busses and planes and sending them off to major cities,. and the crime rate goes up, and many are infected with CV, measles, small pox, tuberculosis and polio.
The Haitians in Del Rio are now being sent by bus to Dallas, El Paso and Tucson. Very few have been sent back to Haiti. Thousands have snuck through without being caught and are spreading out in America.
And the crime rate goes up. These illegals know only how to rob, rape and murder. They did back in their home country and they will do it here.
Sleepy Joe says all the crime is committed by “white supremacists terrorists” . What nonsense.
In 1934, because of bootleggers and bank robbers, the politiicians passed the gun control act of 1934. They said this will stop the bootleggers and bank robbers, so did it? Of course not. What stopped them was they got shot or were arrested and sent to prison for long sentences.
Then in 1968, the politiicians passed the 1968 gun control act, telling people that this will stop all crime, did it? Of course not.
Then in 1994, the politiicians passed the Brady Bill saying this bill would stop drug dealers and all crime, did it? Of course not.
All these laws do is affect the law abiding citizens not criminals.
Now the far leftist politicians say “we need more gun control”, well what about the laws on the books already?
Why is it that back in the 1950’s, one could walk into a hardware store, gun shop or mail order all kinds of firearms without any background checks and no waiting period and crime was much lower than today?
I wrote that to one of the he politiicians in my state and his reply was “we need more gun control”. Really? What a dumbass!
Most of these gun banning groups and hunting banning groups are run and funded by Micheal Bloomberg, George Soros, the Chinese government, the U.N., Russia and Mexico.
The hunting banning groups are joining up with the gun banning groups to ban hunting guns. The idea is, if they can ban hunting, then why do people need hunting guns? See how that works? Buy a hunting license even if you don’t plan on going hunting, also purchase a duck stamp.
Now you have Mexico sueing gun companies in the USA for crimes the cartels committed. But of course no mention of all the ex police and ex military that join the cartels and bring their weapons with them. And with the billions of dollars the cartels have, they simply purchase weapons on the world black market and also from China.
The Brady group is helping Mexico with the lawsuit. This really says something, when you have a American group helping Mexico to ban the 2nd amendment. The Brady group is a traitor to America.
Support and protect your right to keep and own all types of firearms and accessories. Don’t let the far leftist Democrats politiicians restrict and ban firearms in America.
Background checks equal gun registration equals gun confiscation equals gun control concentration camps in America. Don’t forget that America had concentration camps back during WW2.
Too many people have a simple and basic misunderstanding about “gun control.” “Gun control” is not now, and has never been, about crime or criminals. Quite frankly, the Left couldn’t give a rat’s behind about crime or criminals. Gun control is, and has always been, about disarming the citizenry so they cannot represent a threat to the government once the Left establishes the dictatorship they have been working toward for well more than half a century and, thanks to the stolen elections of November and January, are now in the process of consolidating. The key word in the term “gun control” is not “gun” – it is “control.” A quick study of basic world history will show that one of the first actions taken by every Communist government upon their takeover was to go to all of the local police stations, get the lists of gun owners, and then go door to door and disarm everyone. That is why the Communists – er, I mean the Democrats – want a national gun registry. Is there really anyone at this point in time who still does not understand this?
And by the way, it is way beyond disingenuous that the Left always speaks of “we need gun control” as if there were currently no laws concerning firearms. There are now more than 23,000 gun control laws in effect at the federal, state, and local levels in this nation. Every conceivable aspect of firearm purchase, ownership, and use is covered dozens of times over. Firearms are by far the single most regulated and restricted consumer product in this nation. The only ones who are impacted by all these laws are the law-abiding. Criminals very rarely (check the FBI data on this) even attempt to obtain firearms through legal channels, and are thus unaffected by “gun control.” As I stated above, “gun control” has nothing to do with crime or criminals.
You NAILED it L.G.! That’s what it has always been about. It’s also very sad that “freedom” is something that alot of people don’t have the slightest clue of what it really means to be free….the word is so meaninglessly used. It’s truely a shame on how our education system is slowly but surely turning our society into robots. Programming children in school to question their own gender…Our country is free because people fought and died for it…and that connection is fading in the haze of crap that’s being taught to children these days…We have to stay vigilant and keep the devil at bay….constantly!
Yes let us all sit back and listen to the complete morons that know nothing about fire arms lecture us on the morality of guns. Murder unborn children – good, handguns – bad. Wide open borders – good AR15 – bad
Leave Americans behind in a hostile country – good. 30rd magazines – bad. Totally incompetent president – good. Pistol braces – bad. Seriously though how the hell are we supposed to take these clowns seriously when their puppet just left 82 billion dollars worth of real weapons of war in the hands of terrorists and then turn around and say that American gun owners are the real problem in Society. To all the lefts B.S. I only have this to say FUCK YOU MOLON LABE
Oh good grief – they are STILL trying to push the little piggy as a Parkland ‘survivor’?
How many times does it need to be repeated He Was Not On Campus when the atrocity – multiple murders – happened. He is no more of a ‘survivor’ than I am since I wasn’t there either.