U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Buried near the end of a 916-word Op-ed for Fox News discussing the recent walkout of students and parents at a vigil-turned-gun-control-event, writer and best-selling author Frank Miniter drives a rhetorical wooden stake deep into the heart of the media’s bias against guns and people who own them.
“Political differences aside,” Miniter proffers, “imagine if the media actually treated gun rights groups honestly.”
Indeed. Imagine that.
For decades, gun owners and especially Second Amendment activists have complained about media bias. Editorials demanding increasingly restrictive gun control laws are one thing, but when – as many rights activists have asserted – bias finds its way into news columns, that’s a problem.
Miniter, who admits to writing a weekly gun-rights column for the NRA, reported on the walkout at the evening vigil for students who were shot by two of their own classmates at Colorado’s STEM School Highlands Ranch. Students and their parents were appalled and angered when visiting politicians tried to exploit the event to push a gun control agenda.
The event was admittedly sponsored by a Brady Campaign youth group called “Team Enough.” But, as Miniter painfully pointed out, “The very public scene of hundreds of Colorado students and their parents walking out of a vigil that was turned into a political theater by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence was so embarrassing that the gun control group actually issued an apology.”
In a statement, the Brady Campaign said, “We are deeply sorry any part of this vigil did not provide the support, caring and sense of community we sought to foster and facilitate and which we know is so crucial to communities who suffer the trauma of gun violence.”
But Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, wasn’t buying it. In a prepared statement, Gottlieb chastised the gun prohibition lobbying group, suggesting that Brady owes an apology not just to the students and parents, but to every law-abiding gun owner in America.
“The Brady Campaign was well aware that an anti-gun politician would turn such a somber event into a gun control rally,” he said. “Instead, students and their parents were rightly offended and they responded appropriately by walking out.
“The Brady Campaign and the politicians who tried to exploit this tragedy should be ashamed,” he added.
But what about the media? Should they be ashamed as well?
By incorporating volatile terms including “gun violence” and “high-powered assault weapons” into their reporting, are the media telling a story or selling a particular viewpoint?
When some deranged individual stabs people, why isn’t that reported as “knife violence?” Does anyone in a typical newsroom know that common deer hunting rifles use ammunition that is far more powerful than ammunition used in a typical 5.56mm NATO semi-auto modern sporting rifle?
When was the last time a newspaper or broadcast report identified the National Rifle Association, which has tens of thousands of certified volunteer firearms safety instructors in its ranks, as a “gun safety group?” That designation is typically used in reference to gun control organizations such as the Brady Campaign, Everytown for Gun Safety or Moms Demand Action on Gun Sense in America.
When was the last time a “mainstream” news agency challenged a statement from an anti-gun politician or gun prohibition lobbying group about the failure of laws they have previously pushed when they haven’t prevented violent crimes? When, after a tragedy like the Colorado school shooting, anti-gunners call for background checks, why doesn’t some enterprising reporter or editorial writer ask, “Well, they used a stolen gun. How would a background check have prevented that?” Or, “This suspect had no criminal record, so he passed a background check. How would your proposal have prevented this tragedy?”
Miniter makes some uncomfortable points in his essay, including this one: “The National Rifle Association…has the School Shield program that sends teams of experts to schools to help them create safer environments…The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for firearms manufacturers, has lobbied for FixNICS and many other initiatives to keep guns out of the hands of those who are prohibited from owning them.
“Instead of demonizing these groups,” Miniter contends, “imagine if the mainstream media were willing to be more factual and nuanced in their reporting. Solutions would become much clearer in such a climate.”
Miniter once profiled this writer in a 2017 piece for Forbes, in which he criticized the Washington Post for not having even one “politically incorrect, gun-owning nonconformist in their newsroom. They once had Stephen Hunter on staff, but he is a rare thing indeed.”
While the NRA leadership currently appears to have its share of troubles, it is one of those “rare things” for NRA-sponsored firearms safety programs to enjoy any publicity.
Miniter is not the only notable to blister media bias. Researcher John Lott has done the same, such as in this piece he wrote last year for the Washington Times.
While it may be difficult to imagine gun rights groups ever getting a completely fair shake, especially on editorial pages, Miniter does offer some hope.
“The students who boldly walked out en masse as they chanted ‘mental health, mental health’ from what shouldn’t have been a political event did shock the mainstream media into actually reporting on the story,” he noted about the Colorado flap. “That’s a big step toward finding honest solutions to a horrifying problem.”
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Recently I was asked not to exercise my 1A rights at a private club meeting.
I was adding at the end of the Pledge to the flag: “the born and the UNborn.” The pres called me couple nights before a meeting and asked me not to do that. Apparently someone had complained. I just quite going and told some others that “Ive been thrown out of the club.”
This is after I cant carry my handgun cause the bldg owner where we meet has the place posted-NO WEAPONS.
No 1A and No 2A rights–No me.
Imagine if the media treated Republicans honestly. We wouldn’t have to worry about the First or Second Amendments nearly as much.
TOTALLY AGREE!!!!
Give me Liberty or give me death, I only regret I have one life to give my country! As in wedding vowels you state repeating love honer and cherish till death do we part. When saying the pledge of allegiance, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the (Republic) for which it stands one nation under (God) indivisible with liberty and justice for all, till death do Us part. And nowhere does it say we pledge allegiance to socialism communism Progressive alinskyism or United Nations. Nowhere does it say that we admonish Democratic… Read more »
First and foremost I want to recognize and send prayers to the hero’s, victims and their friends and families for what they’ve endured and still have the courage to stand up in the worst case scenerios possibly in their entire lives but still remain strong and in support of each other when the entire USA should be the ones holding you up in support and being strong for you in the losses of a lifetime. You deserve better! Anyone one who came that day to speak about gun control never cared nor will they ever as they prove time and… Read more »
What I take away from this is how proud I am of the students and parents recognizing the Brady Bunch’s plan and bailing on them!
Imagine the outrage if the MSM and brainwashed lawmakers substituted the word “gun” (that 2nd amendment thing) with the word “speech” (that 1st amendment thing.)
Speech control.
Background checks and permits for public speech.
Signs posted in entryways – Free speech prohibited on these premises.
Laws prohibiting speech in courthouses and government buildings.
Speeches of more then 8 words prohibited.
In case you haven’t noticed or heard, but the same kind of people who want to obliterate the 2A, also are doing their damndest to obliterate the 1A. They want to make certain speech a CRIME, where you get fined and thrown in jail for. They already got laws like that in many European countries, and 100 years ago in Russia, the Bolsheviks made it a hanging crime. And they might have just shot you, too. And that is no exaggeration !!!
The MSM is a business like any other. They must continue to stir the emotions of all their readers/viewers to sell ad space/airtime. As long as gun control, abortion and healthcare are hot buttons for the consumer, they will continue with their sales tactics. It’s all about money.
Mr. Workman, I do not expect the DemocRATic Nationalist Communist party controlled PRESSTITUTES to EVER publish an HONEST report about ANY 2ND Amendment supporting group. It IS a shame that SO MANY so-called journalists STILL have not read the Constitution nor it supporting Federalist Papers for THEMSELVES. I agree the English in the Federalist Papers is hard to understand at times. However, the supporting documentation in the Federalist Papers is IMPRESSIVE. It is also a SHAME on the EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM for not TEACHING about OUR American History.
The Brady Campaign and the other anti-liberty gangs are sorry about one thing and one thing only. Their latest Alinsky inspired stunt failed to achieve its goal and actually backfired. They clumsily turned a “happening” in to a drag and lost points in the grander game to eliminate individual gun ownership in America. That is the ever present goal for these clowns and their giddiness allows them to do some downright silly things. We must remain clear thinking and call them out at every turn. We know they are playing the long game of incrementalism and they are supported by… Read more »
The government has attacked our American constitutional rights that I feel is god given at birth making felons out of citizens over mistermener, driving, and countless other laws for ever!! attacking the way of life my family has fought, blead, and died for ( uss Elrod) I don’t know 1 person who voted for any of these laws our politicians say we want I’m getting really of our politicians forcing these laws down our throats I wish a real person would be a politician for America and the constitution this country was built on before things go sideways and the… Read more »
Buy more ammo and food. Both are weapons. A war for independence is the only solution. You are part of that present event and we all need to stand together to fight for, not talk about, what is right. Organize as militia for mutual defense. We have to deal with it with what life we have left for those we love that have their whole life before them. Stand as brothers in arms. Liberty1775 http://www.libertytreeradio.4mg.com