Like it or not, we’re in a war.

Our rights are the prize and while we’re not shooting at one another, it’s still a war to preserve the Second Amendment.

The battlegrounds are different. Ours are, at least for now, the halls of our legislatures and in the courts. They’re in the media of every stripe, both legacy such as television, newspaper, and radio, or the new media that fills the internet.

It’s a war we cannot afford to lose, yet that’s difficult when the battleground itself is against you.

See, the news media is supposed to be neutral. It’s supposed to simply report on the news and let the public debate the morality and nuances. Commentary is the exception, which is what we do here and a number of other sites do as well, but the news should just be the news.

But instead, the media has picked a side. It’s pretty obvious when you see things like, “How a local nonprofit is supporting — and shaping — state and national gun control efforts.”

I’m not going to get into the report itself, mostly because it doesn’t matter. We all know the report will be fawning over the group UTEC, which may do some decent stuff but also favors gun control as a solution to so-called gun violence.

What gets me, though, is that you’re not likely to see a report about a pro-gun group that’s nearly as favorable from the mainstream media, even if it’s just regional mainstream media.

They’ve picked a side in the gun debate and, well, it ain’t us.

We can complain and we can try and badger them for more fair coverage, but does anyone really think that’s likely to happen?

What’s even worse is that the above-linked story? That’s public radio. The taxpayers are funding the media that is working to undermine the rights of the taxpayers.

It’s insane and it’s not subtle.

That, in a way, is the weakness. We know where they’re standing and we can debunk what they’re pushing. We can push back and do it publicly so people become aware of these problems with modern media reporting.

They shouldn’t be permitted to work and strive to take away our rights, granting fawning coverage of anti-gun groups and then demonizing pro-gun organizations without being challenged. They should inwardly cringe every time they do because they have to know what’s going to happen.

Maybe it’ll dissuade them from doing it more. Maybe it’ll cause them to rethink their biased approach to the gun debate.

Or maybe it won’t.

The truth is, though, it’s not about them. It’s about those people who may have an opinion but who aren’t so firm in that opinion that they can’t have their minds changed. It’s about refusing to let them control the narrative in this war for the very soul of this nation.

If guns are gone, so is freedom. The Second Amendment is the insurance policy on our rights. With it effectively rendered null and void, the rest of our rights will be targeted next and we all know it.