Photo of Frank Castro courtesy of San Marcos PF
At 1:52 AM last Friday, four home invaders broke into a house in San Marcos. Three wielded handguns, which they proceeded to point at two residents. A third resident, awakened by the commotion, grabbed his own handgun and opened his bedroom door, where he found an invader pointing a pistol at him. He opened fire, striking three and killing two. The fourth (Frank Castro) fled and was arrested later; he has since been charged with aggravated robbery.
These are the facts of the case. Unfortunately, there is a story behind the story, which involves biased and misleading reporting.
For the children!
All four home invaders were teenagers. While it is a tragedy when young people to lose their lives, even as the result of their own actions, Old Media addresses this angle in a curious manner.
The report from KXAN started with title: “No charges expected in home break-in.” This may or may not be disappointment on the part of their author, though the text appears to indicate the affirmative: The article mentions “teens” 7 times in the article, and mentions that “grief counselors will be on hand at the school” where “at least two [attackers] attended.”
The Austin American-Statesman mentions “teen” once in title and 7 times in article. The Statesman also spent four paragraphs discussing the impact the shooting was having on students at the robbers’ high school:
At least two of the four suspects were students in the Luling school district, officials said.
Superintendent David Davis said one of the teens who was fatally shot, as well as the one who was seriously injured, were students in his district…
Davis said that because the students were minors, he would not disclose their names or where they attended school. He said grief counselors were at the school they attended.
"We're helping our kids that are struggling with this," Davis said.
There are no reports about grief counseling being provided for the residents who had their peace and safety shattered by four armed robbers, nor for the armed defender who experts say may experience remorse or post-traumatic stress disorder for having to shoot three people in defense of his life and those of his housemates.
On the positive side, Brad Rollins, of the San Marcos Mercury provided the best coverage, mentioning “teen” just 4 times, while also reporting that police planned to file no charges against the defender, whom Rollins acknowledges was the “robbery victim.”
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For in-depth analysis of the issues discussed here, read Howard’s book Four Hundred Years of Gun Control: Why Isn’t It Working?, which deconstructs the gun control agenda and motivates more people to support our civil right of self-defense. Autographed copies are available from the author.
Atlanta: Ed Stone | Austin: Howard Nemerov | Boston: Ron Bokleman | Charlotte: Paul Valone | Chicago: Don Gwinn | Cleveland: Daniel White | DC: Mike Stollenwerk | Denver: Dan Bidstrup | Grand Rapids: Skip Coryel | Los Angeles: John Longenecker | Minneapolis: John Pierce | National: David Codrea | Seattle: Dave Workman | St. Louis: Kurt Hofmann | Wisconsin: Gene German
Comments
When a perp has a gun in your face, you don't ask for his driver's license. If you can take him out and not die in the process, it is the right thing to do.
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