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Mainstream media misleads on the gun permit issue
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Map shows right to carry gun laws and loocations of recent high-profile shootings
A recent MSNBC article claims that the mass shootings appearing in the national news over the last month have been committed by people who were issued "gun permits," which it claims means that they were each "legally entitled to fire his weapons"
So much for media objectivity. The murderers were not "legally entitled to fire" their weapons. What the media is attempting to do by making such a ridiculous assertion is to create an image in the mind of the reader, and, in this case, the image is of a license to kill.
Here in Atlanta, the Marietta Daily Journal repeated the lie.
The article fails to live up to the dubious claim in its title, however.
Of the shootings recently, the body of the article gives only one lone example of a murderer with a "gun permit."
Jiverly Wong, the murderer of 13 immigrants in New York, had a New York gun permit for two pistols.
In the minds of Atlantans, the concept of a "gun permit" conjures up thoughts about a right to carry the gun. In New York, however, this is not necessarily the case, as a gun permit may be more restrictive, permitting one to carry a gun only on his own premises or perhaps back and forth to the shooting range. Most counties in New York require special showings for a "carry" permit, as opposed to an "ownership" permit. One must show "extraordinary personal danger, documented by recurrent threats." In other words, Jiverly Wong was not legally carrying his pistols when he went to the scene of the crime, as the MSNBC article erroneously implies.
Perhaps the irrational author has never stopped to consider whether saying to a murderer "You can't carry a gun there" actually is going to stop him from committing mass murder. It cannot be seriously argued that a deranged man intent on committing mass murder is really going to be stopped by wishfully declaring a location "gun free."
Moreover, New York is a discretionary permit system, and Jiverly Wong had a forgery conviction in California. In addition, he was investigated for crack cocaine usage and a planned bank robbery. Gun permits in New York have been revoked or denied for less.
Amazingly, the MSNBC article claiming that "many" of the murderers had gun permits does not offer another example of a valid gun permit. If they had known of one (or two, or three), surely it would have been printed. The article goes on to make the predictable calls for further gun control, as if New York state does not already strictly regulate ownership and carry of guns.
Would further gun control help?
Jiverly Wong fired 98 shots in about a minute. Therefore, the police, who took about an hour before entering the building, were of no use to the helpless victims inside. The only hope for the buildings occupants was if somebody else inside was carrying a gun to stop the carnage.
There was no escape, because the murderer had jammed the back door closed with his truck.
The map above offers another view of the killings. Half of the recent deaths were in the extremely few states that have no "shall issue" licensing system for carrying pistols. More gun control is not the answer, in spite of the false image that the media is trying to create.
- Austin: Australia experiencing more violent crime despite gun ban
- Boston: The Educated Patriot
- Charlotte: Self Defense: what Castle Doctrine means to you
- Cleveland: ABC pushes anti-gun agenda
- DC: San Diego District Attorney says LA DA's memo on open carry is wrong!
- Denver: Don't be blinded by the exceptions
- Los Angeles: Gun Control: connecting the dots of crime to gun control to socialism.
- Milwaukee: Vote for Constitutional justice- Vote Koschnick
- Minneapolis: Breaking News: Was Pittsburgh gunman ineligible to possess firearms?
- Seattle: MSNBC's error-laden attack on Gottlieb no substitute for journalism
- St. Louis: Gang members stealing weapons from military arming, Mexican drug cartels?
- Wisconsin: Vote Tuesday
