Nation’s Capital Gets Gunshot Heroes With Its Morning Coffee

The Real First Responders: “As Seen in USA Today”

GunLaws.com breaks new ground, “Black Mom With Assault Weapon Stops Attack, Saves Kids” Plenty more where that came from…

Gunlaws.com
Gunlaws.com

PHOENIX, AZ –-(Ammoland.com)- Although rarely in the public eye, the Wash., D.C.-Beltway crowd got an eyeful of crime victims shooting their attackers in a most unusual place this morning — USA Today.

In stories their readers don’t normally get to see, a paid advertising column in the Life section featured news of people who are alive today because they had ready access to fully loaded guns — including so-called assault weapons — and were able to shoot down vicious thugs who attacked them.

These first responders — as the column calls them — get very little national press, and the second responders, the police, who typically show up later, are mislabeled, leading to a badly misinformed public, according to The First-Responders Report TM, a series.

“Black Bystander with Gun Saves Mother, Helps Capture Assailants” ~ Read the column

“When seconds count, the police are just minutes away,” says Alan Korwin, quoting common-sense street logic. He is the publisher at GunLaws.com and Bloomfield Press, which is sponsoring the column. “People who are victimized by vicious criminals are the real first responders. Out here we know that. It’s important to set that record straight, and just maybe, to convince the media to get it right.”

“I once had an AP bureau chief tell me they don’t want to run stories like this because they don’t want to encourage this kind of behavior, it could create copy cats,” Korwin recalls. “That stunned me.”

“What was wrong with having people stop criminals? And if the AP was afraid people would copy behavior they wrote about, how can they run incessant stories about people who go berserk?” he asks. “Do I have to complete that thought for you?”

Some media critics agree that constant glorification of psychopaths in the news creates copy-cat behavior. But if this is true, it is all the more reason to feature people who stand up to criminals and, instead of becoming statistics in waves of crime, are heroes who stop aggressors dead in their tracks. Studies show it happens a lot — innocent civilians stopping crimes and the police picking up the pieces, afterwards.

“Woman Alive Thanks To Sidearm; Calls 911, Then Shoots Attacker” ~ Read the column

The First-Responders Report: Issue 1
The First-Responders Report: Issue 1, Click to Read the Report

A person confronted by an active shooter or a crime in progress has two basic choices — do nothing and hope the maniac leaves you alone, or do something to protect yourself. The law has always protected people who act to defend their lives in such situations.

The media in the past has been quick to show crime, but unfortunately has chosen not to prominently show cases of self defense, giving the public a terribly distorted view of reality. There is no penalty for giving the public a terribly distorted view of reality, or for violating the clear codes of ethics the industry itself has developed but does not enforce. Reporters are not currently regulated or licensed, and don’t need to pass any level of competency or testing to practice, so little action can be taken against those who misrepresent the public trust. They are also protected by the Bill of Rights.

The First-Responders Report TM aims to change this false impression and both improve gun safety and do something about crime. USA Today has taken an important step in moving this issue to the front of the national stage, and we thank them for it, even if it was an expensive proposition. And yes, we will gladly entertain inquiries from those interested in sponsoring future editions of the column in the Wash., D.C-area and other regions of the country.

The company’s USA Today advertorial column can be viewed at GunLaws.com.

More Background

According to an analysis of related New York Times stories, in a single year, that paper ran 104 gun-crime articles totalling 50,745 words, balanced by a single 163-word story involving a retired cop. In USA Today for the same year, the word total was 5,660 words on gun-involved crime with nothing at all for balance. USA Today has earned some respect for giving this issue the light of day, even if it’s only as an ad.

  • Analysis of anti-gun bias in the news: https://www.gunlaws.com/JohnLottMediaBias.htm
  • Comprehensive details on news-media bias: https://www.gunlaws.com/NewsAccuracy.htm

Even the smallest scholarly studies estimate hundreds of thousands of armed self-defense incidents annually.

The largest estimates run into the millions, with 2.5 million annually the most often cited figure, from a Florida State University study. All 13 studies are summarized and reviewed in a book Bloomfield Press sells entitled Armed, New Perspectives on Gun Control, by Gary Kleck and Don Kates.

About GunLaws.com:
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Bloomfield Press, founded in 1988, is the largest publisher and distributor of gun-law books in the country. Our website, gunlaws.com, features a free national directory to gun laws and relevant contacts in all states and federally, along with our unique line of related books and DVDs. “After Your Shoot” for media review is available on request, call 800-707-4020. Our authors are available for interview, call to schedule. Call for cogent positions on gun issues, informed analysis on proposed laws, talk radio that lights up the switchboard, fact sheets and position papers. As we always say, “It doesn’t make sense to own a gun and not know the rules.” Visit: www.gunlaws.com

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Bigmac

Excellent idea!

Herb

“The law has always protected people who act to defend their lives in such situations.” Maybe the written law but certainly not the practiced law. Ask George Zimmerman about the law protecting him. Ask George Zimmerman who congratulated him for making the world just a little bit safer by killing his attacker who was, purportedly, a drug user and a drug seller whose mom kicked him out of her house.