On Sunday’s CNN special, The Price of Freedom, focusing on the issue of gun rights, the liberal news network gave the kind of slanted presentation one would expect in which most of the soundbites were of critics of the NRA  who were given a forum to complain that the pro-gun group has been too successful in pushing its agenda.

In the opening tease, a clip of Democratic Congresswoman Lucy McBath set the tone as she declared: “You’re 25 times more likely to die by gun violence in the United States of America than any other developed nation in the world. What does this say about us as Americans? We’re just willing to let people die because we’re afraid of the NRA?”

Investigative journalist Frank Smyth added: “There’s no other single-issue lobby in the United States that has had as much success advancing its agenda against the wishes of the majority of the country. … The NRA has managed to convince millions of Americans that when people get killed in gun violence, that is the price of freedom.”

The soundbites of NRA board member David Keene were not nearly enough to counter misinformation pushed in the film as more than a half dozen different critics of the pro-gun group were featured in soundbites throughout the film.

Now, I get that sometimes you can sense bias where none is intended. Arguably, this is especially true when the facts simply don’t line up with your preconceived notions.

Yet claiming that to be the case here would be a significant example of gaslighting.

When you have many anti-Second Amendment voices with only one notable pro-Second Amendment advocate speaking up in one of the most divisive issues we have before us today, you can’t pretend that there just aren’t enough options for differing opinions. No, they chose who to include and who not to.

Keene was only included to allow CNN to pretend to present both sides.

The problem is that the only people who actually believe that are people too stupid to remember to breathe without a constant reminder.

Folks at CNN often wonder why people’s trust in the media is declining year after year. It’s because this gets presented as an unbiased report looking at the issues of the Second Amendment and violent crime in our nation when much of it seems to be a hatchet job on Stand Your Ground Laws.

For example, it quotes Rep. Lucy McBath talking about the evils of Stand Your Ground and the death of her son. What isn’t mentioned is that the man who killed her son received life in prison for murder. He claimed he was threatened, but when the jury looked at the evidence, there was no threat to the man and he was convicted.

People have often claimed they were defending themselves to try and cover up a murder and the courts have always tried to figure out whether that was true or not. McBath’s son wasn’t unique, and justice was done.

How is that an indictment of Stand Your Ground laws, CNN?

It doesn’t, but they don’t want you to know that you can’t just claim you feel threatened, then get away with murder. It doesn’t work like that.

I’ve reached out to the NRA to see how they feel about this hatchet job, but I haven’t heard back as of publication. I’ll be sure to add any comment I receive afterward.

Edited: Amy Hunter from the NRA responded with the following:

“No one is surprised that CNN would present a biased and false portrait of the NRA and American gun owners. That is why the NRA ignored invitations to participate in the roundtable discussion.  Our power comes from our 5 million dues-paying members and the millions of other gun owners who support the Second Amendment, self defense rights and America’s rich hunting heritage. We will not apologize for fighting on their behalf so they can keep themselves and their families safe.​”