Yet who does the media run to? It seems almost always to be firearm instructors.

“Now, they will just be able to walk the streets with a loaded gun. I’m trying to be objective, but I can’t think of a reason,” Safety instructor Mark Haskins said.

Haskins is a safety trainer at Shooter’s Supply Indoor Range in Hixson.

He believes if people want to own a gun, they need to be properly trained and educated.

“And I’ve also seen people come through and they really don’t know how the gun operates. They almost literally don’t know which end the bullet comes out of,” Haskins said.

…

“I’m an NRA member. I’m a lifetime NRA member. I’ve had guns for years. I believe in the second amendment, I believe in gun rights. But I also believe in public safety,” Haskins said.

So why does the media gravitate toward instructors at times like this, rather than gun store owners as they do in most other cases involving gun legislation?

Oh, the answer is easy.

You see, the current requirements in Tennessee include a training requirement. That’s a requirement that people like Haskins make money off of meeting. They stand to lose revenue if constitutional carry passes and they know it. After all, no one will have to come to them to get training in order to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

By going to people in such a situation, the media is able to look like they’re trying to be fair–after all, they went to a pro-gun person, right? Imagine their surprise to find out that they oppose this measure–but what they’re really doing is stacking the deck.

Don’t get me wrong. I think Haskins said exactly what he feels. I think he believes every word he says. However, man isn’t a rational animal but a rationalizing one. It’s not difficult to think that his opposition stems not from truly-held beliefs but a subconscious desire to protect his income.

And the media knows it.

They know it so they go to the very people who stand to lose out if this bill passes, then pretend there’s some widespread opposition in the pro-gun camp to constitutional carry.

The media in this case, however, failed to talk to anyone else to get their take. These instructors got played. They’re being used to try and manipulate public sentiment against constitutional carry, against the pro-gun argument, all because they’re worried they won’t make as much money off of ordinary, law-abiding citizens who are being required to go to a class in order to exercise a fundamental human right.

They got played and they’ll continue to get played until the day comes that the media stops getting away with this kind of thing.