It has finally gone too far in its deceptive efforts to raise money, attract the blindly fearful, and undermine the fundamental human and civil right to keep and bear arms, according to leading Arizona civil-rights experts.
"Arizona has been ranked number one for gun-rights freedom," said Alan Korwin, publisher at Bloomfield Press, whose gun-law publishing firm recognized this top rank in 2010, and was backed up for the past two years by Guns and Ammo magazine, the leading publication in the field.
"Do you feel like you live in paradise for criminals?" he asks, despite hopeless federal failures at our Mexican border.
"Is this what you think your Arizona Commerce Authority or Visitors Bureaus believe? Is this why you moved here? Do you actually see crime in the streets where you live -- or just on your TV set late at night in so-called "news"? The Commerce Authority was not reached for comment.
Charles Heller, speaking for the Arizona Citizens Defense League, added, "This is a typical publicity stunt of the Brady people. They don't care about truth or morals. What's upsetting is how fast and unquestioningly the so-called mainstream media gives them attention, demonstrating their own blatant bias. As long as the Brady center thinks what we're doing is wrong we know we're on course. We look forward to even greater negative ratings from them in the future."
The Columbia School of Journalism plans a workshop in Phoenix on news media bias about gun violence, in May. This sort of yellow journalism, so quickly reported without challenge or balance should be on their radar. The Bradys even make it a joke, providing a travel directory for criminals. We're not making this up.
Even E.J. Montini, a perennial gun hater writing for The Arizona Republic, who never misses an opportunity to denigrate and discriminate against this traditional right of all Americans, issued a stinging rebuke (for him) of the Brady's vile hatred, saying, "I don't consider our beautiful desert oasis a 'paradise for criminals.' We have our share, but so does every other place, including those with stringent firearms restrictions." And those places don't have an international border that leaks worse than an Iranian nuke inspection. Most of Montini's column praised the Bradys and continued his constant barrage against the public's Second Amendment right to arms, his fourth such column in a week, without any balance from the paper.
Arizona freed its citizens to bear arms without wallet cards, permission slips or other government interference in 2010 with Constitutional Carry, a term coined here. Reducing government restrictions on rights, and increasing personal freedom historically has beneficial results. The recently celebrated Selma march is a perfect example of expanding civil rights, thought dangerous by many, that were a blessing.
Constitutional Carry lowered crime
Despite widespread terrified fears of "BITS" -- blood in the streets -- that literally paranoid delusion never materialized. FBI statistics have shown decreases in crime in states that freed their citizens to discreetly carry arms for crime deterrence and personal safety. The idea that good people free and empowered to protect themselves and fight crime would do otherwise is a logical disjoint, with statistical proof. The media has repeatedly demonstrated immunity to such facts for reasons that are too ugly to publish.
Similar unfounded fears sprang up when the permit system first appeared 16 years earlier in Arizona (1994), but those too turned out to be completely without substance. Yet no media retractions were ever issued for the unrestricted fear mongering media outlets spread. Media bias against firearms and gun owners is well documented and continues unabated, violating every principle of ethics in journalism codes.
Now we face destructive hyperbole from an agenda-driven fear-mongering group in the nation's murder capital, where obtaining even a government permission slip to keep and bear arms is virtually impossible. They get extensive "news" coverage, instead of ridicule and a demand for an apology. If such preposterous outrage were to appear over race, gender or any other civil right the media would howl with alarm. Instead, we find the lunatics are truly running the asylum. Guns save lives, stop crime and help keep you safe. The media should start covering that missing angle already, experts say.
For starters, people should educate themselves about the truth about guns, which is at the heart of the mission for Bloomfield Press, which publishes the Arizona Gun Owner's Guide, now in its 26th edition. Learn more
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