More anti-gun fervero from your unbiased national media

Anything that quotes the Brady Center as a reliable source has just got to be true.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/05/cops.guns/index.html

I love how they imply that fully automatic "600-rounds-per-minute" AK-47s are on the street now because Congress allowed the so-called Assault Weapons ban to expire. The AWB only covered semi-automatic rifles. Full auto ones were still available when it was in effect ... with a hefty tax and a full body cavity search of your background and criminal history by the ATF, as they are now. If gang members in Miami have automatic weapons, it's not because the assault weapons ban expired.

I felt compelled to write the following to CNN -- not that it will do any good.

The inaccuracies and bias in this article are astounding.

It states that fully-automatic AK-47s are on the streets in Miami because the Assault Weapons Ban expired. Machine guns (fully-automatic weapons) were not covered under the ban, and were legal when it was in effect, as they are now -- given the appropriate hefty tax payment to the ATF and a full criminal history search and background check.

Anyone who got a full-auto weapon without going through that rigorous process is in violation of federal law now, and would have been in violation of federal law when the ban was in effect as well.

The Assault Weapons Ban only covered semi-automatic (one round per trigger pull) weapons. If gangs in Miami are all sporting full-auto AK-47s, which I seriously doubt, it's not because the AWB expired. So-called semiautomatic "assault weapons" have the same capabilities as civilian semiautomatic rifles -- it's just a matter of cosmetics.

And where is the other viewpoint in this article? I note an anti-firearm source, the Brady Center, is quoted extensively. Please present both sides in a story and at least attempt to get the facts straight instead of quoting Brady Center propaganda unfiltered. As media, you are supposed to be unbiased gatekeepers. That means doing more than just regurgitating Brady Center talking points.

That's what they taught me in journalism school -- but I guess Susan Candiotti must have skipped class that day.

Thanks for your patience,
John Bayless,
Converse, TX

Wonder whatever happened with the big drive they had to outlaw the 50 cal military rifles. Man...what a panic campaign they tried with that one.

http://www.50caliberterror.com/index2.html