Alphecca

Weekly Check on the Bias

Yeah, yeah, yeah, everyone's yapping about Bill Clinton's new book. But NOT US! Here at Alphecca we're focused like a laser beam on the male Olympic gymnast tryouts on NBC bias in the media against guns and the Second Amendment. Spanning the globe, or at least the web, I try to bring some sense to the reporting that goes on with these issues.

But first -- because it's all about me, that's all I really want to talk about, ME -- remember that lamp I was willing to trade a few weeks ago for a nice .45? One very generous reader agreed and last week I picked up my new, in box Para-Ordnance P14-45 from my local gun dealer:

Perfect condition, 14-round double-stack magazine. I started breaking it in last Thursday and will continue to do so this Thursday. He's also going to sell me some additional hi-cap magazines. Life is good here in AlpheccaLand. All right, enough of that, let's get to it...

Say, do you have money invested with Working Assets? Why? They publish garbage such as this editorial by Arriana Huffington:

Attention al-Qaida sleeper cells, domestic terrorists, school shooters, David Koresh wannabes and bloodthirsty lunatics everywhere: Be sure to mark Sept. 13 in your day planners because -- thanks to President Bush and his GOP pals in Congress -- your murderous missions are about to get a whole lot easier.

You see, that's the day the 10-year old federal ban on assault weapons is set to expire, making it perfectly legal to buy, sell and own a whole new line of domestically produced rapid-fire killing machines.

I'm not sure exactly WHAT Arriana is huffing these days but this might be the most outrageous op-ed I've read in a very long time. Her problem with President Bush is that he hasn't used any political muscle to promote renewal of the phony "assault weapons ban." We in the rational universe know that this whole silly law attempted to outlaw guns based on their cosmetic features. Does it have a "pistol grip?" or "collapsible stock?" and so on... "A whole new line of" guns -- we're talking like 19 guns that operate the same as any other semi-automatic firearms. They're not "rapid-fire" in any sense of the phrase since only one bullet comes out with each press of the trigger.

Does Arriana Tammy Fay Huffington even KNOW how guns operate? Does she really think that al Qaida members and other terrorists and lunatics obey gun laws? I suppose that having her husband leave her for another man has left her mind in a state of mental decay.

What I don't understand is how a public investment business such as Working Assets would allow such an editorial to be published under their auspices. They've just assured that something like 80 million (gun owning) people won't invest with them. I urge you not to, either. And furthermore, I urge you to let them know this. Perhaps if enough of us voice our displeasure, they might reconsider publishing Arriana's huffs.

I also wonder why Yahoo would link to this editorial in a private business publication on their Gun Control Debate Page? That, of course, while ignoring hundreds of pro-gun stories from legitimate newspapers such as (via KABA) a justified defensive shooting in this KATC TV story from Alexandria, Louisiana:

A convenience store clerk shot and killed a would-be robber in what police said was a justifiable homicide.

Tamer Abdulwahab, 20, and his cousin, Abdulwahab Zeidan, 24, were talking at the counter near closing time Tuesday night when Samuel Lucky Parker, 25, walked in wearing a camouflage mask, dark clothing and a glove on one hand.

Abdulwahab said Parker pointed a gun at Zeidan, who was behind the counter, and began shouting for Zeidan to put money from the register into a bag.

Abdulwahab slipped down an aisle and hid out of sight. He drew his gun, which he said he carries for protection, and pointed it toward Parker but didn't fire...
...
...Parker opened fire, Abdulwahab said, and bullets sprayed into the liquor bottles and a cooler behind the register. Two bullets went into the cash register, narrowly missing Zeidan's head.

Abdulwahab then fired at Parker, hitting him at least twice. Parker ran out of the store and his body was later found in the ditch near La. Highway 1. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Abdulwahab said the convenience store is a family business with all the employees being kin.

"He was shooting at my cousin, my blood," Abdulwahab said.

Exactly. Abdulwahab did what everyone (unfortunately -- in this world of mutants besieging us) should do and protected himself, his family, and his business. And good for KATC-TV for not introducing any anti-gun bias into the story.

Alas, sometimes the mutant is a family member, such as in this Guardian (UK!) story of a defensive shooting in Nevada:

Authorities are investigating whether a man sexually abused his three daughters after he shot his estranged wife in the face and kidnapped the teenagers at gunpoint.

One of the girls fatally shot Walter N. Ball Wednesday night as he slept in his car, about 30 miles east of Carson City, police said. He apparently had been drinking heavily.

The girls, ages 13, 16 and 19, led officers to the body, Lyon County Sheriff's Capt. Jeff Page said. He declined to reveal which of them fired the fatal shot.

"These girls were scared to death. They believed they were going to die,'' he said, adding that no charges were pending against them.

The girls' mother, Cindy Ball, called police early Wednesday to say she had been shot and her children kidnapped by Ball, who was out on bail for charges of sexual assault and incest.

Ball had handcuffed a teenage son and another daughter before forcing the three other daughters at gunpoint to disrobe and leave with him, Page said.

"This is simply the most evil thing I've ever heard of in my career,'' he said.

If you read the rest of the story, you'll see that this guy Ball was a real prize. He should have been shot a long time ago, maybe at birth. Why The Guardian -- in England -- is reporting on a crime in Nevada is beyond me but again, no bias.

Not to make light of this tragic story but I was reading an old issue of Ellery Queen magazine today with this cover by artist Norman Saunders:

What the hell, it gives me an excuse to "spruce up" this weekly report with more pictures...

This next story from the New York Times (which will NEVER be accused of publishing a pro-gun story) concerns some rich folks who built a home on Long Island near a gun range:

A year after Kevin and Tracy Coyle bought a second home here among the oak trees - "our dream house, our sanctuary," Ms. Coyle called it - they said they arrived one weekend in April to find bullet holes in the bedroom, broken wallboard on the floor and damage to their cathedral ceilings.
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After the police came and yanked two bullets from high-powered rifles out of the walls, the Coyles said they knew whom to blame: the Maidstone Gun Club, a mile away as the bullet flies, whose rifle range is on a direct line with the new subdivision where the Coyles live.

And so began another Hamptons skirmish between a native population and newcomers: the gun club versus the Huckleberry Woods subdivision.

The club has shut down its rifle range while the East Hampton Town police investigate the shootings, and some residents of Wainscott have hired lawyers to keep it closed, saying the use of high-powered rifles threatens homeowners and anyone who hikes on the trails between the gun club and the subdivision. The dispute was first reported in The East Hampton Star.

"There's development there," Mr. Coyle said Wednesday. "They can't have a gun club in the middle of a residential neighborhood. It's terrible; God forbid it kills anybody."

The gun club's leaders are adamant that the bullets came from someone else, possibly shooters in the woods between the club and the development. Mitch Yates, the president of Maidstone, said any shot fired on the rifle range would have to skip over a 25-foot berm, travel uphill and dart through a mile of dense woods before striking houses in the subdivision.

Well, I've never been to that range, or that area, so I'm sure not going to comment on the merits of either side's case. What I will prattle about is the absolute condescension of the NY Times against the rifle range. The constant quotes of the poor little Coyles, with their 2 1/2 acres and swimming pool and tennis court, while trying to demonize the gun club show the bias of the writer, Patrick Healy, who obviously thinks that it's perfectly fine for "developers" to build homes near an active rifle range and then demand that the range should just stop operation. And Mr. Coyle? Yes they can have a gun club in the middle of a residential neighborhood, especially if the club was first, and the homes came after.

It's sort-of like the people who move next to an airport and then complain about the noise of the planes... Healy even has quotes from neighbors griping about noise and "bullets whizzing past." Now again, if the backstop of the range is insufficient, it needs to be corrected. But if the problem is just that there is shooting going on, well, the range was there first. The developer and the home buyers should have done their homework.

I shoot at a range in Thetford, Vermont. It's an active range. Weekends are very busy with both traditional target shooting and also trap-shooting. Wednesday evenings the practical shooters show up. Thursday evenings, it's us from the mill. It's over 300 acres and the range is at the edge, facing in, and the backstop is a hundreds-foot-high hill. The range has been there a very long time, given to the town (with the stipulation that the range remain active) and maintained by them and the local fish and game club. But a few years ago someone actually put up a house across the road. Now they're trying to sell it. Here's the listing. I love "the spin" that the realter puts on it:

Outdoorsy folks will love the babbling brook, snowmobile trails, and close proximity to the local firing range!

Hey folks, I love guns but even if an anvil fell on my head I wouldn't buy a home next to a rifle-range. The developers and the town planning board in the story from the NY Times should have seen this coming. And who, in their right mind, goes "hiking in the woods" between the range and their home?

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, even the so-called pro-gun people apparently want to continue the ban on "assault weapons." From the Boston Globe:

Fearing that Congress won't renew the federal ban on assault weapons, state legislators voted yesterday to bar the sale of the same 19 weapons in Massachusetts, winning over gun-rights supporters by including a half-dozen provisions designed to make it easier to own legal guns in the Bay State.

The measure would prohibit the sale of semiautomatic, military-style assault weapons such as the AK-47, the Uzi, and shotguns with certain accessories.

The gun-friendly provisions include a six-year gun license instead of the current four years, creation of a review board with power to restore gun licenses to people convicted of certain misdemeanors, and a 90-day grace period for expired firearm identification cards and licenses to carry.

''There are a lot of good things in the bill," said Jim Wallace, legislative director of the Gun Owners Action League, the state's leading pro-gun group. ''In all, the bill represents a healing process, or the beginning of the healing process, between lawful gun owners and the Massachusetts Legislature."

I suppose that when you live in a liberal bastion such as Massachusetts, you have to make compromises. I refuse to compromise and so that is why I live in Vermont. The Globe didn't take sides although I feel as if the writer could have taken the time to find SOMEONE who thought this bill was a sell-out. Let me quote the last line of the story:

''I think it's a great compromise," said John Rosenthal, chairman of Massachusetts-based Stop Handgun Violence.

Uh-huh. If Rosenthal thinks it's "great," how good can it be?

Update: A reader very familiar with the bill takes me to task for not getting all the facts, for believing The Globe, and for casting aspersions on GOAL. Probably I was a bit too sarcastic so I've deleted one paragraph of my comments. You can read more about the bill on GOAL's web site here. The reader also writes:

Our state level ban has been in place for 6 years. It was very similar to the federal ban, but with one major exception: IT HAD NO SUNSET CLAUSE! Our law will be in place after September even if this bill hadn't passed. They've had several legal experts agree with this point, and even without a law degree, it's clear our state ban would remain. This reform bill started out as an EXPANSION, not an EXTENSION. They used extension rheotoric for fear and to divide our ranks. Judging by your response, and the response of others who rely solely on the NYT owned media, it worked. They killed the expansion language and put in reforms from about 4 other bills we supported that the sponsor of the expansion killed. The "new" assault weapons language is much clearer to read, but other than that, it doesn't change a damn thing in our law that NEVER WOULD HAVE SUNSET.

Okay. It won't be the first time I've eaten humble-pie, and it just goes to show that the Globe story was biased. So I'll offer my apologies to GOAL.

This morning, while lounging around and reading the Sunday paper, I had the TV on, waiting for the news to come-on at 8:00 AM. Our local NBC affiliate has a show on (before Weekend Today) called Kid's News. Don't bother visiting the site because all it is is a list of what stations carry the show. Too bad (and shame on them) because it's a good show for kids. What caught my eye was that they featured a segment about a teenage boy who is a champion trap-shooter. Yes, they gave the warning that this is a sport that should only be practiced under the supervision of adults, but beyond that, no anti-gun bias at all. The boy has won several competitions and is dreaming of competing in the Olympics.

I wish the site had more substance and articles about the people they profile. But they don't. At least, it's gratifying that a show aimed at teenagers would provide such a story showing that firearms aren't just about killing and crime. If you do check out the site, you'll notice that the show isn't carried in most "coastal" "leftist" cities. I wonder why...

Here's what some pro-2A bloggers are chatting up:

Naturally, Les Jones has his Gun Links. A good jumping off post for you. Even if I did "scoop" him...

Say Uncle wants to know where you do your shooting? He pays $10. per session for an indoor range? I pay $10. per YEAR to shoot here:

Eat your heart out...

Backroad Blog reports on cops shooting a dog, but they were at the wrong house to begin with!

Bitter Bitch shares her thoughts about NRA President Kayne Robinson. So Bitter, how do you really feel?

And for you hunters out there, the Resplendent Mango reports on a museum exhibit of animal droppings...

You know, I just HAD to work that last one in... Hey, this wraps up this week's edition of my report. Next week I have a few days off for the holiday, which I plan to take, so this report will return in two weeks. Thanks to all of you for stopping by!

Posted by Jeff Soyer at June 28, 2004 12:40 AM