By Lee Williams
SAF Investigative Journalism Project
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune, the last newspaper where I worked, regularly provided outstanding journalism until Gannett bought it in 2019.
Before the purchase, we had scores of reporters and dozens of editors. Our print edition could reach nearly 200,000 people on a Sunday.
My editors were smart and community focused. After all, they let me start a blog about guns and
gun rights.
When Gannett bought us, everything changed. Massive layoffs and firings became the norm. They also deleted my entire gun blog.
Today, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune has a grand total of one editor and three reporters—one even lives in another state. Nearly all they write are press releases. Their print circulation is kept
secret, but it’s probably less than 5,000.
That, friends, is my history with Gannett, the largest newspaper chain in the country and publisher of USA TODAY. I believe it’s important for you to know my experiences when you
read this story.
On Monday morning, USA TODAY columnist Joel Burgess published this: “I like shooting guns, but I can never keep one in my home | Opinion.”
The entirely nonsensical headline was followed by this drivel: “My grandfather’s gun made nobody safer. My family’s experience with his suicide shows the potential dangers of a firearm in the home, particularly one that is unlocked and loaded.”
Before we look at his work, here’s a little about the columnist. According to his LinkedIn page, Burgess has been a USA TODAY columnist for less than two years.
Before becoming a columnist, he was a reporter at the Asheville Citizen-Times, which today has two editors and six reporters. Before that, he sold cycling parts for a North Carolina firm.
It shows.
He doesn’t hate guns, he claimed. “And I’ve fired some big ones, like a .357 magnum and an AR-15, starting when I was in Boy Scouts. But I still see firearms in a different way.”
I will leave his “big ones” comment alone. There are more important issues to address.
He mentions the “premier medical journal JAMA,” which posted a story claiming 7 million American kids live in a home with at least “one unlocked and loaded firearm.”
“Part of me says these are 7 million future catastrophes that can’t be avoided because we live in a country with an unrelenting firearms fetish,” Burgess actually wrote.
I should point out that a “fetish” is defined as “a sexual fixation on an object, body part, or situation that is not typically considered erotic. It also broadly refers to any object, idea, or behavior that is the focus of an irrational, obsessive, or unquestioning devotion.”
Perhaps he should have used another word.
As to his data, his JAMA’s numbers are not accurate. A story by NPR that Burgess even linked to admits it was the authors’ estimate.
Besides, many of us grew up in homes with loaded firearms. I have loaded firearms in my home right now. It’s totally safe. It’s not a “future catastrophe.” All it requires is some education and parental involvement. That’s it.
But Burgess is far from done. His anti-gun balderdash gets even deeper.
“A long-running cultural narrative says we should rely almost entirely on ourselves for safety. That would seem to mean having a gun in your house is necessary to stop bad guys from hurting you and your family, a message reinforced by the gun lobby and our entertainment industry,” he wrote.
Note: he hyperlinked “entertainment industry” to the 2013 film, “The Purge.” I cannot reckon why.
As to his comment, I do not know what crime is like in Asheville. Perhaps there aren’t any home invasions, burglaries or murders. Perhaps the criminals are a decent sort, who leave when so ordered and apologize, bow and lock your front door as they back out quietly.
Even if that’s the case in Asheville, I can guarantee that for the rest of our country, having access to a firearm is the ONLY sure way to stop a committed bad guy from hurting you and your family—the only way.
I’m not sure if “The Purge” movie reinforced this, but I know the “gun lobby” sure does, for one reason. It’s 100% true.
Guns save lives.
Anyone who says otherwise is an idiot, a liar or both.
The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.
