{"id":49397,"date":"2015-12-30T08:17:04","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T13:17:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/blog\/?p=49397"},"modified":"2015-12-30T08:17:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T05:19:25","slug":"media-bias-against-gun-owners-were-all-tinfoil-hat-rednecks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/media-bias-against-gun-owners-were-all-tinfoil-hat-rednecks\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Bias Against Gun Owners: We\u2019re All Tinfoil Hat Rednecks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The mainstream media doesn\u2019t like gun culture. I know, I know, this is not a new revelation, but I thought I\u2019d point out some recent examples of how they mischaracterize us and malign us as if we\u2019re all knuckle-dragging, tinfoil-hat-wearing, mouth breathers.<\/p>\n

Let me start with the most obvious example, the call too ban modern sporting rifles by The New York Times<\/a>. Although they don\u2019t outright say it, the editorial board suggests that those of us who keep an AR-15 on hand are fundamentally indecent. In other words, we are obscene, dirty, filthy, rude, coarse, naughty, vulgar, gross, crude, lewd because we keep and bear black rifles.<\/p>\n

Certain kinds of weapons, like the slightly modified combat rifles used in California, and certain kinds of ammunition, must be outlawed for civilian ownership. It is possible to define those guns in a clear and effective way and, yes, it would require Americans who own those kinds of weapons to give them up for the good of their fellow citizens.<\/p>\n

What better time than during a presidential election to show, at long last, that our nation has retained its sense of decency?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s in that last line, \u201csense of decency.\u201d Again we are indecent (or pick whichever synonym you\u2019d like) because we possess a widely popular and commonly owned tool for self-defense or hunting or sports shooting or for no other reason than it\u2019s our Constitutional right. We are the problem, don\u2019t you see!<\/p>\n

But for many in the media, it doesn\u2019t stop at indecent. For many, it goes much further. Perhaps one of the most egregious examples is Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker who blamed NRA supporters<\/a>, in part, for those killed at the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.<\/p>\n

The people who fight and lobby and legislate to make guns regularly available are complicit in the murder of those children. They have made a clear moral choice: that the comfort and emotional reassurance they take from the possession of guns, placed in the balance even against the routine murder of innocent children, is of supreme value. Whatever satisfaction gun owners take from their guns\u2014we know for certain that there is no prudential value in them\u2014is more important than children\u2019s lives. Give them credit: life is making moral choices, and that\u2019s a moral choice, clearly made.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words, we killed those children because we exercise our Second Amendment right. There is blood on our hands, simply because we own firearms. It\u2019s guilt by mere possession of private property. Nevermind the fact that we\u2019re law-abiding and responsible. We\u2019re child killers all the same. On a side note, statistically speaking, folks with firearms kill fewer children than folks with swimming pools. So, if gun owners are child killers, what does that say about those with swimming pools? Even more concerning (sarcasm), what does that say about gun owners who also have swimming pools? Take about moral depravity!<\/p>\n

Gun owner = bad guy. Yes, that\u2019s how the media sees us. Alan Korwin<\/a>, a GunsAmerica contributor, talks about this a lot. It\u2019s present in the language they use. \u201cActive shooter\u201d for example. On a Saturday or Sunday, I\u2019m — technically speaking — an active shooter. I\u2019m at the range, shooting. I\u2019m sure you\u2019re an active shooter from time to time. But when those words are placed in a headline, they take on a whole new meaning, i.e. sociopath with a gun. Yet, why doesn\u2019t the media call it what it is, crazy person with a gun? Why is it “active shooter”? Or “gunman” (another term perverted by the media)?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all part of an agenda to demonize gun owners. I know, I\u2019m starting to sound like the pundits on conservative talk radio. But there is an institutional hostility toward gun owners in the media. Some more examples? How about the Zimmerman audio tape that was edited by NBC<\/a> to make him sound racist? Remember that?<\/p>\n

Here is the actual transcript:<\/p>\n