Opus 2012-211, Headlines: Shooters and Shootees

Recently I had the news on briefly as I was driving to work.  Alistair Begg had finished his sermon and I was almost to my first stop so I had switched briefly to the radio.  The talk was on a “breaking story” about a shooting in New York City.  My initial reaction was, “How is this possible?  New York is a gun free zone.  It is illegal to have a gun.”  The anti-second amendment spin is always a part of what is going on in reporting the news.  The news reader did not mention the fact that people have been arrested in New York when their plane was re-routed through the airport and they had been, legally, transporting a firearm in their checked luggage.  Legal, that is, in every airport except New York.  They did not plan on landing in New York.  It did not matter.  The news reader did not tell you that the average citizen cannot legally own a handgun in the city. 

Another interesting spin was that when they reported the casualties they included the shooter as if he were just another victim.  This raises the numbers for people who don’t think about what they are hearing.

When I was leaving home I had the radio on for a few minutes and the dynamic duo hosts were commenting on recent shootings in Chicago.  You may have seen that headline also.  Gun Banning Chicago is on track to overtake Gun Banning Washington, D.C. as the murder capital of the country.  I don’t think any of the cities in Right to Carry Florida are high on the list.  Of course they did not mention that but they did comment that most of the killing seem to take place in just a few neighborhoods.  That wasn’t on the news section either.

Two reports on the news.  Two cases where banning guns is counter-productive.  But when it comes to limiting our liberty we know that facts and reality are sent to the closet. 

homo unius libri