PBS NewsHour has been embarrassing the past few days on guns. First, they had Senator Diane Feinstein...
PBS NewsHour has been embarrassing the past few days on guns.
First, they had Senator Diane Feinstein, the supposed anti-"assault weapon" expert in the Senate for the past 20 years, falsely assert that the .223 round is a "big bullet." It's actually very small, one of the smallest bullets you can get in a gun, and no one challenged the claim.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/capitol-hill-stalemate-on-gun-control-back-in-spotlight-after-orlando-shooting/
The next day, they had a story about the AR-15, which they billed as "used in ... an Orlando gay club." It wasn't. Worse, the reporter then went on to interview only a single person, who falsely asserted that the AR-15 is "a military rifle" that is "designed to kill in mass quantities." It's not. It's a civilian rifle that would never be used by the military, and if the M16 were designed to kill in mass quantities (no support is offered for this claim), an essential part of that design would be the select-fire feature, which is unavailable on the AR-15.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/its-the-weapon-of-choice-for-u-s-mass-murderers-the-ar-15/
The best thing I can say about the second story is that it properly identified the .223 as "very small."
Also, this isn't the "weapon of choice for mass murderers" (even if you broaden it from "AR-15" to "semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines that shoot the .223 round). That's nonsense. Semiautomatic pistols are much more common. These rifles have been used in the last three mass public shootings, but were not common before that.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/03/us/how-mass-shooters-got-their-guns.html?_r=0
First, they had Senator Diane Feinstein, the supposed anti-"assault weapon" expert in the Senate for the past 20 years, falsely assert that the .223 round is a "big bullet." It's actually very small, one of the smallest bullets you can get in a gun, and no one challenged the claim.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/capitol-hill-stalemate-on-gun-control-back-in-spotlight-after-orlando-shooting/
The next day, they had a story about the AR-15, which they billed as "used in ... an Orlando gay club." It wasn't. Worse, the reporter then went on to interview only a single person, who falsely asserted that the AR-15 is "a military rifle" that is "designed to kill in mass quantities." It's not. It's a civilian rifle that would never be used by the military, and if the M16 were designed to kill in mass quantities (no support is offered for this claim), an essential part of that design would be the select-fire feature, which is unavailable on the AR-15.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/its-the-weapon-of-choice-for-u-s-mass-murderers-the-ar-15/
The best thing I can say about the second story is that it properly identified the .223 as "very small."
Also, this isn't the "weapon of choice for mass murderers" (even if you broaden it from "AR-15" to "semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines that shoot the .223 round). That's nonsense. Semiautomatic pistols are much more common. These rifles have been used in the last three mass public shootings, but were not common before that.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/03/us/how-mass-shooters-got-their-guns.html?_r=0
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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