The media's assault on truth

I hesitate to write this, because the issue has already gotten so much superb coverage recently at War on Guns, Say Uncle, Snowflakes in Hell, Call me Ahab, Illspirit, Dustin's Gun Blog, Carnaby Fudge, The Real Gun Guys, Days of Our Trailers, and undoubtedly others. Those are some sharp folks, and I don't have such a high opinion of myself that I think I have much to add.

Still, KX Blogs and Talk takes us back to another instance of media (CNN, once again) distortion about so-called "assault weapons" that is so grotesque that even though it's several years old, deserves another look. I refer here to the time they tried to claim that a round of ammunition fired from an "assault weapon" is much more powerful than an identical round shot from a more politically correct rifle.

First, a deputy fired what Jenne described as "a AK-47, the Chinese version," which is "currently banned." [this was before the 2004 sunset of the AWB]

Viewers saw bullets fired into a pile of cinder blocks and chunks of the cinder block flying off, leaving a big hole in one block. Then, the deputy fired into a bullet-proof vest. Zarrella observed that the bullets "clearly fired right through" the vest.

Second, Jenne set up the next model to be tested: "This is an AK-47 also, but a civilian model. It has some differences and right now this only has a clip of 10 in the magazine -- or 10 rounds in the magazine. So this is a big difference than the 30 rounds in the previous magazine."

Viewers then saw the deputy fire four shots toward the cinder blocks, but nothing happened, not even a speck of the cinder block flew off, never mind any hole being created.

The very clear implication: The illegal model punches right through cinder block with devastating and deadly force, but the legal model can't even cause a speck to fall off.

That, of course, is so far from the truth as to be laughable, were it not for the fact that this kind of distortion is part of a campaign to render American citizens disarmed.

The real reason for the cinder block's seeming imperviousness to bullets fired from politically correct firearms, is that the bullets were being shot elsewhere, as CNN was eventually forced to admit, when called on it:

"When a BSO employee fired a banned weapon, the camera showed bullets ripping through a cinderblock target. When a legal semi-automatic weapon was fired, the camera showed another cinderblock seemingly unharmed.
"In fact, the bullets from the legal gun never hit the cinderblock. CNN spokesman Matthew Furman said the camera operator didn't realize the sheriff's employee had switched targets and was firing into the ground....
"The comparison seemed to imply the banned weapon packed more punch than its legal counterpart. In fact, the two are the same in terms of firepower."

Whether CNN was a willing participant in the deception, or if the Broward County (Florida) Sheriff's Office hoodwinked them, in addition to their viewers, the obvious conclusion is that a campaign of disinformation (a nice way of saying "lies") was waged in order to try to rally public support for continued banning of so-called "assault weapons."

As my fellow bloggers have demonstrated, that campaign of lies is still in full force.

As an aside, if we go to the CNN article that inspired the recent storm of retorts from my fellow bloggers, we come to this . . . interesting tidbit:

Across the country, at least 62 police officers have been gunned down this year -- a record pace, said Robert Tessaro, the associate director for law enforcement relations for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

As a result, the Brady organization supports police officers arming themselves with high-powered weapons "to protect themselves and their communities," he said.

"High-powered weapons," of course, being the Bradys' term for what they would call "assault weapons" when owned by private citizens (or criminals, or terrorists--the Bradys apparently don't see three distinct groups there--only one). I guess someone forgot to tell the Bradys that the preferred term for police-owned "assault weapons" is "patrol rifles," but they and the media do seem united on the idea that police need these weapons that "are useful only for killing large numbers of people," and the rest of us must not have them. I guess we know why, now, the Brady Bunch never expressed "outrage" over this mass killing with an assault weapon . . . er, high-powered rife/patrol rifle.

The Bradys call for private citizens to have their most effective arms removed, while at the same time supporting equipping agents of the government with those same arms. Maybe it's just me, but I find that just a teensy bit sinister. Ladd Everitt and the CSGV approve, I'm sure.