By Kevin D. Williamson
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Memo From: Copy Desk
To: Jessie DiMartino, Samara Lynn
Re: This wreck of a story
A couple of
notes on an ABC News story:
“What some lifelong gun owners say about
AR-15s” [This implies that you talked to a lot of “lifelong gun
owners.” As near as I can tell, you talked to one full-time activist, another
person whose connection to the activist is not made clear, and—if I can believe
my eyes—you watched a Tik-Tok video.]
Paul Kemp is the co-founder and president
of Gun Owners for Responsible Ownership. A lifelong gun owner and hunter, he said he was driven to create the
organization after his brother-in-law Steven Forsyth was killed in the Clackamas Town
Center shooting in December 2012 in Oregon.
The gunman in that case, a 22-year-old,
opened fire in the crowded shopping mall using a Stag Arms AR-15 rifle [As
noted below, AR-15 is a trademarked product name, like Ford Mustang; the rifle
in this shooting was a Stag Arms STAG-15] he had stolen from an
acquaintance. In addition to Forsyth, Cindy Ann Yuille was killed in the
incident and 15-year-old Kristina Shevchenko was injured. The gunman died by
suicide at the scene.
The parade of mass shootings since that
fateful day in 2012 have stirred up a tide of emotions within Kemp, he said,
including the recent massacres in Buffalo, New
York, and Uvalde, Texas. [This sentence is not quite English.] And Kemp said
his resolve to get measures enacted to keep guns, especially high-powered
AR-15-style rifles, out of the hands of those he says shouldn’t possess them,
becomes stronger with each nightmarish mass shooting. [One of the most
common sources of bias is uncritically adopting an activist’s point of view,
which you do here and below.]
Kemp is one of several longtime gun owners
ABC News spoke with [Did you contact them, or did they contact you
because they are full-time professional activists looking to get their names in
the news?] who say they want gun[HYPHEN]control
laws and reform. Gun rights extremists [You
remember what I said about uncritically adopting the activist’s point of view?
Do you think gun-rights advocates think of themselves as extremists?] ,
with, they say, [Who says?] the NRA as their bullhorn — no
longer represent the majority of gun owners in the U.S. [Here is
something that appears to be an assertion of fact, but it is unsubstantiated —
and almost certainly untrue.]
But proponents of the guns [What
guns?] say that they are [Which are?] essentially no
different than [FROM, goodness gracious you TV people are illiterates] other
hunting rifles, are used responsibly for sport and are not the weapons of war
that opponents make them out to be.
Defining ‘AR-15’
An AR-15 is a type of semi-automatic
rifle, firing one bullet with each pull of the trigger — a contrast [IN
contrast] with illegal automatic rifles [automatic rifles are
not illegal; they are tightly regulated], which fire continuously as long
as the trigger is depressed.
“AR-15 style rifles can be made for a
variety of bullet calibers and to accept a variety of different capacity
ammunition magazines,” said Jake Charles, lecturing fellow and executive
director of the Center for Firearms Law at Duke University School of Law.
The guns, which have skyrocketed in
popularity, [By how much and since when? This style of rifle has been
the most popular long gun in the United States for a generation.] are
often referred to as “assault rifles,” but whether that is an apt description
depends on who [whom] you ask.
“Assault weapon” is a legal term of art. Under the 1994 federal
assault-weapons ban, which expired in 2004, it was defined as
“Semiautomatic rifles having the ability to accept a detachable ammunition
magazine and at least two of the following traits” — including a bayonet mount
or grenade launcher. [Question that might come up in a story about
weapons and violence: Were there a lot of bayonet murders and grenade-launcher
murders before the ban? No. What might that tell you about the policy?]
“It’s not a simple yes or no,” as to
whether an AR-15-style gun is an assault rifle, Charles told ABC News.
“Often an assault rifle refers to an
automatic rifle, like the military’s M4 or M16. In that sense, the AR-15 is not
one because it’s not an automatic weapon,” Charles said. “But sometimes an
assault rifle is the description for a rifle that is classified as an ‘assault
weapon’ under federal or state laws restricting those weapons. For example,
under the 1994 federal assault weapons ban, Colt’s AR-15 was specifically
listed as a prohibited assault weapon.”
According to Erik Longnecker, the deputy
chief of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ office
of public and governmental affairs, public affairs division, “assault rifle”
and “assault weapon” are not defined under current federal firearms law.
“Assault rifle and assault weapon are both
political terms that are not defined in the Gun Control Act or the National
Firearms Act,” he said.
The ATF also does not have a definition
for AR-15. “That is a specific model of rifle originally manufactured by Colt
who also holds the trademark to that term,” according Longnecker.
[So, can you describe what exactly it is
that those proposing an “assault weapons” ban propose to ban? It seems like you
might have arrived at that point by now.]
According to the National Shooting Sports
Foundation, a firearm industry trade association: “The ‘AR’ in ‘AR-15’ rifle
stands for ArmaLite rifle, after the company that developed it in the 1950s.
‘AR’ does NOT stand for ‘assault rifle’ or ‘automatic rifle.’ AR-15-style
rifles are NOT ‘assault weapons’ or ‘assault rifles.'”
NSSF says that there are millions of such
guns in circulation.
Still, some of the gun owners [Again,
who are these people and where did you find them? Are they associated with
activist groups? Don’t you think you should say so if that is the case?] who
spoke with ABC News questioned the need to possess the powerful [Compared
to what?] weapons.
Kemp says the ultimate purpose of an
AR-15-style rifle, the gun that was used to killed his brother-in-law, is they
are [Goodness, gracious — English, motherf***er: Do you speak
it?] designed to do “a lot of
damage.” [Compared to what? To the
firearms that are designed to shine your shoes?]
And they have.
Although handguns are involved in most
shooting deaths, the use of semi-automatic rifles is climbing, said Louis
Klarevas, a research professor at Teachers College, Columbia University who
specializes in gun violence and safety. [Not according to the FBI, which in
its most recent figures reports that all rifles combined were used in 364
murders in 2019, more than in 2018 but fewer than in 2017. Fewer than 400 is a
pretty small data set for a country with 340 million people.] In the
1980s, less than 20% of gun massacres involved semi-automatic rifles according
to a report he issued as an expert witness in a California court case over
banning assault weapons. [So, less than 20 percent in the 1980s, climbing to
. . . what? The word “more” is comparative, and you are missing the comparison.
But, in any case, this seems not to be true — the figures for “mass shootings”
as defined by the Congressional Research Service show no meaningful change in
the weapons used — overwhelmingly handguns.]
In a recent TikTok video
that went viral, Benjamin Beers, who said he is a former
Marine [Who said? How about maybe you do some journalism and confirm a
few facts?] who served in Kuwait, and was stationed in Camp Pendleton,
California, declared he was handing over his AR-15 and 9mm gun to
authorities [what authorities?] to have them destroyed.
Beers told ABC News the decision was
sparked in part by the Uvalde shooting. He also said he wants weapons like the
AR-15 banned.
“I would love to see semi-automatic rifles
such as the AR-15 banned, if not banned, some major laws changed. It’s the
single most effective [Compared to what?] method used [for
killing] . . . to committing such heinous acts of violence. And we’ve seen it
for decades,” he said.
Steve Labbé is also a legal gun
owner. [Guy off the street? Activist? Someone Kemp connected you with?] He
says he is for an outright ban on assault rifles, but thinks such legislation
would be tricky to enact.
“The ban of assault weapons is a tricky
play on words. I say this because assault weapons can and do use the same
ammunition as hunting rifles, and that is where the people who overstate the
Second Amendment rights find the gray area.” [The Second Amendment
doesn’t say anything about hunting, and Second Amendment law takes only passing
notice of the issue.]
After the two most recent mass shootings
in New York and Texas even President Joe
Biden addressed the nation, calling for a ban on assault rifles. [Which you still have not defined.]
“We need to ban assault weapons and
high-capacity magazines. And if we can’t ban assault weapons, then we should
raise the age to purchase them from 18 to 21, strengthen background checks,
enact safe storage laws and red flag laws. Repeal the immunity that protects
gun manufacturers from liability, address the mental health crisis,” Biden
said.
Congress has remained in a stalemate with
Democrats wanting to push gun control legislation, and most Republicans
rejecting those proposals. This week, however, the House passed the “Protect Our
Kids Act” which has sweeping gun reform
measures including raising the age limit to purchase semi-automatic weapons and
banning high-capacity magazines.
Gun rights advocates often tout the AR-15-style
rifle as a hunting tool but the gun owners who spoke with ABC News, most of
whom hunt, refute that [Is it refuted? Or is it disputed?] for
most hunting scenarios.
“Hunting and self-preservation have no
need for high-capacity cartridges, no need for semi-automatic and automatic
phases of fire,” Labbé said. “That way, someone who takes offense to their
specific type of ammunition being called out because an AR-15 uses the same
ammunition (the typical, ‘I hunt rats with an AR-15’) can feel safe in the knowledge
that their hunting gun isn’t affected by this ban. We should also acknowledge
that hunting guns can be converted to assault weapons as well,” he said. [I
do not know what this particular illiterate mess hopes to mean, and I do not
think you know, either.]
Kemp also said he wouldn’t use an assault
rifle to hunt because of what it does to flesh. [Maybe he says this,
but these are the single most common hunting rifles in the United States, and
they do not do anything to flesh that is different from what any other rifle
does, and they are considerably less powerful than most ordinary hunting
rifles, which is why they have been prohibited for deer hunting and other
larger-game uses in many jurisdictions.]
“The way an AR-15 round enters the body …
it’s designed to tumble and create a lot of tissue damage,” he said. [This
is an urban legend. But, again, “lots” compared to what? Compared to a deer
rifle or a shotgun? These are answerable questions, or would be if you felt
inspired to get off your asses and do some journalism.]
In a statement to ABC News, an NRA
spokesperson said: “The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in America. Tens of
millions of Americans legally own AR-15s for a variety of lawful purposes,
including self-defense.”
The gun rights group also stated: “There’s
been a growing trend in the number of hunters who choose to hunt with an AR-15”
and that “the focus and burden of our laws ought to be on prosecuting violent
criminals and in ensuring those with dangerous behavioral issues don’t have access
to any firearm.”
In the case of the shooter who killed his
brother-in-law, Kemp said, “The young man who was the shooter . . . there were
no mental health issues. That’s just a bogus argument.” [How do we know
there were no mental-health issues? Was there a mental-health evaluation? Or is
this just another in a long line of completely unsubstantiated activist quotes
that you are reporting uncritically as facts because of your obvious bias
problems?]
‘God-given right’ argument and proposed
solutions
“There needs to be drastic changes taken
with this weapon,” Beers said. He said the guns can be custom-built and easily
ordered online [Untrue, at least not in the sense of ordered online and
delivered to your home, like Amazon. Online orders have to be completed
in-person at a licensed gun dealer, with a background check and all the rest.] with
a 30-round magazine. [Why a 30-round magazine? You can order a
100-round magazine if you like.]
“And it’s always just stuck with me, this
isn’t right. This is the same weapon I got issued in the Marines.” he
said. [No, it isn’t. The weapons issued to Marines are “select-fire,”
meaning they can be fired in full-auto mode. As you note above, the rifles sold
to civilians are not like that — they are semiautomatic-only.]
Kemp said that when his family found out
that the active shooter who killed his brother-in-law stole the AR-15 which was
in a home unsecured, “my first question to the officer …[was] doesn’t Oregon
have a safe storage gun law? He said, no. The guy that left the gun on
locked [Locked? To what? If by “locked” you mean that he had the safety
on, why would it be preferable to have the safety off?] and loaded . .
. zero consequences.” [Are there other situations in which we punish
people for being robbery victims?]
In 2021, Oregon
required gun owners to safely secure firearms. [To
what effect? Portland has a higher crime rate today than it did in 2021.]
Kemp says he is not for an all-out ban of
AR-15-type rifles, but said the weapon should fall under the National Firearms
Act, which places limits on ownership of “shotguns and rifles having barrels
less than 18 inches [No, it’s 16 inches] in length, certain
firearms described as ‘any other weapons,’ machine guns, and firearm mufflers
and silencers.” [Why SHOULD a weapon that has no features that would
cause it to fall under the NFA fall under the NFA? Isn’t this just a way of
saying the NFA should be rewritten to ban these rifles? If so, so
say.]
Having AR-15-style weapons covered under
the NFA, would provide “an incredibly detailed, thorough background check at a
higher cost,” Kemp said. “You never hear machine guns being used in shootings,
rarely, nor silencers,” he added.
He also said the country should put back
in place the Federal
Assault Weapons Ban enacted in 1994 and lasted 10 years,
which covered the AR-15.
“We know the ban worked [The
Department of Justice says there is no evidence of this] because we
saw less [FEWER, damn your eyes!] shootings involving those
types of weapons,” he said of that period.
Kemp expressed his frustration at what he
called, “gun advocate extremists.” [Why is it that the people who want
to keep the law the same are “extremists” and the people seeking radical
changes in the law are not extremists? You may like the proposed changes, but
I’d like to know why advocates of the status quo are extremists and advocates
of far-reaching legislative and constitutional change are not.] “They [Who?
The NRA?] don’t like having to do the background check. They
don’t like not being able to carry weapons wherever they want. [Is this
true? Does the NRA oppose laws prohibiting carrying firearms in, say, bars, or
in places where private businesses prohibit them? If so, show me.] They
don’t like the process of having to get a concealed carry permit,” he said.
“[They] don’t believe there should be any
restrictions on the types of ammunition you can buy, or . . . armor piercing .
. . [they] feel like there shouldn’t be any restrictions since the Second
Amendment is how we founded the country. It’s my God-given right. Well, God
didn’t write the Constitution, nor amendments,” he added.
ABC News’ Emily Shapiro, Libby Cathey and
Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
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