Media tries to pretend "ghost guns" are like model kits

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File

When a kid starts building models, the snap-together kits are a good place to start. They’re pretty easy to build, after all.

But so-called ghost guns aren’t snap-together models. They’re more involved, even if you buy a kit that comes with all the parts you need.

Advertisement

Of course, one would be shocked to learn that if what they know about these firearms came from CNN.

CNN decided to break the new information about the ghost guns used in the Philadelphia shooting over the weekend on Thursday’s CNN News Central by blaming the ghost gun manufacturers and distributers for the shooting. In addition to blaming these companies for this shooting, anchor Sara Sidner hosted former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe on the show to essentially blame these companies for illegal gun ownership as well, since apparently they were “specifically…marketed to evade the law.”

McCabe also railed about the process for obtaining a ghost gun, mentioning the fact that the kits for making them could be purchased online and claiming that “really anyone with any sort of mechanical ability” could use the kit to construct a gun:

And just to be clear, for your viewers, ghost guns are not just unserialized, they are actually sold as a kit of the—of a—all of the necessary parts of a firearm. It comes to your house, through the internet, or you can buy them at gun shows and other places, and then really anyone with any sort of mechanical ability can take those parts and turn it into a fully functioning lethal firearm. And it has no serial number, and cannot be traced.

In reality, these guns required quite a bit of skill and some specific equipment to assemble, not merely the simple task that these two seemed to think it was.

Exactly.

Oh, it might not be overly difficult, but it’s not exactly a snap-together model, either.

Advertisement

Moreover, there’s literally nothing in those kits that people couldn’t get otherwise. They’re gun parts, all of which are readily available and aren’t subject to ATF control. The only part that’s considered a gun is the receiver, and even if you took out the “ghost gun” receivers you can buy online, this is the era of the 3D printer.

I’m sorry, but your efforts to control firearms are dead. Your efforts to stop so-called ghost guns are even more so.

The truth is that McCabe isn’t particularly knowledgeable about unserialized firearms anyway. He’s generally best left trying to undermine a duly elected president and not talking about guns. Frankly, he was out of his depth.

Unsurprisingly, though, McCabe managed to parrot gun control talking points perfectly, all while not saying anything about his lack of expertise on the subject.

Then again, this is CNN. Is anyone really shocked that they’re pushing anti-gun talking points by using a paid puppet to spout them so low-information viewers can parrot them later? This is why trust in the media is non-existent these days. There’s no trust because they’re not trustworthy.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Sponsored