A leading gun rights organization today slammed the “agenda-driven media” for allegedly providing cover to Democrat Hillary Clinton in an effort to mask her gun control agenda after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump accused her of wanting to “essentially abolish the Second Amendment.”
Several media outlets, including CBS News, Politifact and the Associated Press today contended that Clinton has never said she wanted to repeal the Second Amendment. However, they acknowledge she wants to tighten gun controls, including renewal of the ban on so-called “assault weapons,” expand background checks, prevent gun sales to anyone on terrorist or no-fly watch lists and repeal a federal law that prohibits junk lawsuits against gun manufacturers and dealers.
But Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, is firing back. Here is what SAF said in a news release:
More than a year ago,” he recalled, “Clinton made gun control a cornerstone of her campaign. She talked about using Australia’s gun confiscation as something that might be considered. She told a private fund raiser last October that she thinks the Supreme Court was wrong on the Second Amendment, and in an interview with George Stephanopoulos, she even questioned whether the Second Amendment protects an individual right.
“While admitting that Clinton wants to renew the ban on modern sporting rifles and repeal a law that protects firearms manufacturers from frivolous harassment lawsuits, the official media spin today is that she’s never actually said she would abolish the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb stated. “That’s like saying an arsonist really doesn’t intend to burn a building, even though he’s splashing gasoline on the walls.
“The media has adopted the anti-gun lobby’s lexicon,” he added. “They routinely use deceptive terms like ‘gun safety’ and ‘gun violence prevention’ when they are really talking about gun control or gun prohibition. It is intellectually dishonest and we’re going to call them on it.”
Gottlieb revealed that SAF will be launching what it calls a “Media Action Plan” to counter “rapidly growing anti-gun propaganda in the news media.”
He said the media “wants to build a protective wall around Hillary Clinton” to protect her gun control agenda from public scrutiny.
But this gun control flap may be part of a larger media strategy to demonize Trump. According to the website Legal Insurrection, there appears to be a concerted effort to paint Trump’s acceptance speech Thursday night in Cleveland as “dark” and foreboding.
Writing at Legal Insurrection this morning, William A. Jacobsen listed a string of very similar headlines under the title, “Media parrots Clinton campaign attack on Trump speech – ‘dark’.” He pointed to a story published by The Hill soon after Trump stopped speaking, with a statement from Clinton’s campaign. Here’s part of what that story said:
Tonight, Donald Trump painted a dark picture of an America in decline. And his answer — more fear, more division, more anger, more hate — was yet another reminder that he is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be President of the United States,” campaign chairman John Podesta said in a statement shortly after Trump wrapped his lengthy address at the Republican National Convention.”
At least ten different story headlines cited by Jacobsen’s story use the word “dark.” Expect this controversy to heat up as the Democratic National Convention unfolds and critics start analyzing press coverage to determine whether it is more favorable to Clinton, who is expected to get her party’s nomination.
