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Media rushed to blame ‘high-powered rifle’ as anti-gunners dance in blood
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The horrific shooting at Binghamton, NY Friday brought out the best in some and the very worst in others.
In the hysteria that followed, every news agency covering the event quickly rushed to declare that the gunman was armed with “a high powered rifle” though there was no evidence at the time other than hearsay that a rifle was used. But the term “high-powered rifle” is currently at the top of the press lexicon because of the attention being paid to so-called “assault weapons” being shipped from this country to Mexico, where they are allegedly being used by warring drug cartels.
Of course, as several Gun Rights Examiners and Fox News have reported in recent days, that story happens to be…what’s that word?...hogwash. I wrote about it here, David Codrea has been writing about it for the past few days, here and here.
This probably disappointed the "ban the assault weapon" crowd because they now cannot use this crime as one more crutch for their single-minded gun-ban agenda.
Fox News' Shepherd Smith, a pretty good reporter, even fell for the rumor. (Note to Fox News: Keep Geraldo Rivera away from camera and microphone during coverage of this kind of crime, he only adds to the hysteria by throwing out the notion that this was a “terrorist” act, and he came across like damned fool…)
It was a massacre designed for maximum bloodshed. Many of the victims were trapped inside the American Civic Center, which provides citizenship help to immigrants and refugees.
It took a very sober Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikusky to straighten everyone out, when asked by a reporter during a late afternoon press conference, whether a rifle had been used.
“Absolutely not,” the chief quickly responded. “At this point there is absolutely no indication any rifle was used.”
Earlier, the chief had commented matter-of-factly (and with no small amount of irony) “There is a lot of misinformation that has already been reported.”
At this point there is absolutely no indication any rifle was used.
The gunman, tentatively identified as 42-year-old Jiverly Wong (aka Jiverly Voong), was actually armed with two handguns, a .45 and 9mm, and Chief Zikusky noted that he evidently put some thought into the attack ahead of time, because he blocked the back door with his borrowed automobile before walking in the front door and opening fire.
The man believed to have carried out the attack was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office, a satchel containing ammunition slung around his neck, authorities said. Police found two handguns — a 9 mm and a .45-caliber — and a hunting knife.
My colleague, Howard Nemerov, has noted in his column about this brutal crime that New York, with its fairly strict gun laws, prevents most people from carrying guns for personal protection. An armed citizen in a situation like this might turn the tide. Nemerov sagely observes that most mass shootings occur in so-called “gun free zones” and there is a reason for this. Mass killers prefer risk-free environments, even though most of them appear to be killing themselves rather than face punishment for what they’ve done.
Into this mess — as one would expect — has waded Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Making perhaps the single statement that comes as close to intelligent as is Helmke’s normal diatribe, he said in a press release, “The laws on the books aren’t getting the job done.”
Exactly. The laws that Helmke and his crowd have supported, laws that disarm law-abiding Americans and those seeking to become American citizens, definitely are not getting the job done. They’re not designed to protect the public, they are designed merely to make people vulnerable to more of this madness.
New York has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, yet this crime happened in New York. Yes, this is a gun law failure. The gun control laws of New York failed miserably by virtually stripping good citizens of the only sure tools of self-defense against a kill-crazed madman.
The alternative to that foolishness was detailed in my book, with Alan Gottlieb, America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age.
Helmke and his ilk want tougher laws, more public disarmament. That dog don’t hunt. We’ve tried it Helmke’s way for several generations, and all we have to show for it is a body count.
Check out new columns by my colleagues:
