From: "Ted White" <twhite8 at cox.net>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Spy plane crash?
Date: Thu, 23 Jun 2005 18:37:26 -0400

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
To: "WSFA members" <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2005 11:20 AM
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Spy plane crash?

> At 09:07 AM 6/23/05 -0400, dicconf wrote:
> >
> >On Wed, 22 Jun 2005, Mike B. wrote:
> >
> >> I don't recall if it was NPR or the local PBS station that did it, but
I
> >> once heard a radio report about a new semi-automatic gun law and the
report
> >> included the sound of machine guns firing in the background.
> >
> >Then that wasn't a report, it was an editorial.
>
> It was purported to be a report, but I agree that it was slanted and
> therefore more editorial in nature.  Much "reporting" on gun issues is
like
> that.
>
> >Similarly with many of the stories identifying autoloading pieces as
> >"assault rifles", and automatic pistols as "automatic weapons" -- as if
> >there was no difference between a Colt .45 and a machine gun.
>
> They generally use the meaningless term "assault weapon" when talking
about
> semi-automatic rifles that look kinda military-like (pistol grips for
> instance), not "assault rifle"...since the weapons they are usually
> discussing are NOT "assault rifles", but they want to brand them with
that
> image and blur the distinctions.
>
> It's clearly intentional, as there is no way that any conscientious
> reporter could possibly still be unaware of the error at this point in
> history.  That they continue to use definitions made up by the anti-gun
> crowd for propaganda reasons, rather than the proper technical ones in
use
> for many decades by the military, gun makers, shooters and everyone else
> who knows anything about the subject, shows their bias.

Semantics.  In the army "a gun" is a field artillery piece and sidearms
aren't "guns."

You point it at somebody, pull the trigger, it goes "boom" and the somebody
falls down.  That's what most people think of when they hear the word
"gun."  All of the qualifiers mean squat to most people.  That's the
audience being dealt with, and that's a lot of the people in newsrooms,
too.

[This is a descriptive, not prescriptive, comment.]

--Ted White