Media Doesn't Report News; It Makes News

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre speaks during a press conference in Washington Dec. 21, 2012. (AP)

Wayne LaPierre, the National Rifle Association’s Executive Director, recently wrote an article warning Americans that the radical left is organized, they’re dedicated to destroying the Trump presidency and the media is leading the charge. Nowhere is the media’s deep involvement in disinformation more apparent than on the issue of gun control.

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LaPierre cautioned that the initial sense of well-being associated with a president who is pro-Second Amendment was short-lived when it became apparent the radical left has redoubled its efforts to disarm law abiding citizens through any means necessary including a campaign of disinformation.

“Our job of taking back lost liberty and restoring the American culture we cherish through the peaceful transition of government is increasingly being poisoned by well-organized political guerilla forces using ‘resistance” tactics on a massive scale,” he wrote.

A National Review article points out how the press’ disinformation campaign can be very subtle, almost invisible to the untrained eye. The term assault weapon, used by the press to describe firearms such as the AR-15 semi-automatic modern sporting rifle, intentionally conjures up visions of a select-fire, full automatic military rifle.

The term assault weapon came into popular use with the implementation of “The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act of 1994” and is used by the media to give readers a sense of illegitimacy. The term assault weapon is made up, has a very vague meaning, and does an excellent job of tainting any conversation on lawful firearm ownership. By using the term assault weapon the press is in effect making up news rather than reporting the news. They’re creating problem that doesn’t actually exist.

I always admonish liberals that they’re entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts. Unfortunately, the press has a penchant for ignoring anti-gun, made-up facts.

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In a speech in January 2016, then President Obama suggested that felons, who are barred from possessing a firearm, can go to a gun show or to the Internet and purchase the same firearm they were denied at a gun store.

“The problem is some gun sellers have been operating under a different set of rules,” Obama said. “A violent felon can buy the exact same weapon over the Internet with no background check, no questions asked.”

That is simply untrue. Under federal law a felon cannot legally purchase a firearm anywhere or be in possession of a firearm under any circumstances. The press never took the President to task nor do they ever take anti-Second Amendment diatribes filled with falsehoods to task.

“The job of making America great again will be a fight for every inch of freedom,” LaPierre wrote. “And as NRA members, we must be at the center of the coming battles to oppose a kind of political sabotage never before seen in our nation’s history. We are being jolted into a new reality.”

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