The Media Research Center continues to be incapable of having an honest conversation about guns following a gun massacre because it absolutely refuses to consider the central role of the guns — and that pattern continued after a shooting at a Christian school in Wisconsin. Curtis Houck grumbled in a Dec. 16 post that people once again discussed gun regulation in the shooting’s wake:
On Monday afternoon’s CNN News Central, former deputy FBI director, far-left CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe declared “the context of gun ownership” has to undergo substantial changes, regardless of whether it’s “relevant” to the circumstances of a shooting at Madison, Wisconsin Christian school.
McCabe opened the door in response to a question from co-host Boris Sanchez about whether he agreed with Madison’s police chief insisting security measures like metal detectors shouldn’t exist:
[…]Keilar followed up with an emotional plea to McCabe on the heels of his declaration that “we need to be doing something differently,” asking if there’s “anything” that could be done to “tackl[e] this problem” of guns and the complacency of the American people.
McCabe declared the country’s going “nowhere because it keeps happening” and “[w]e know it’s going to happen again…in the near future” and he “can guarantee you that and every time it happens, we do just about nothing.”
As for what, the anti-Trump and Deep State character said Americans should “support and enact legislation that changes the — the — the context of gun ownership in this country and emphasizes gun safety and responsibility with the firearms that you own and keeping them out of the hands of children and doing — and really vigorous, consistent background checks across the country.”
That sounds pretty serious! Care to elaborate, Andy?
Unfortunately, it was little more than boilerplate liberal talking points, arguing Congress should “stop selling people — stop — you — eliminate the ability to purchase guns without a background check.”
Houck didn’t explain why it was relevant to accuse McCabe of being an “anti-Trump and Deep State character.”
The next day, Brad Wilmouth served up a reflexive right-wing defense of the NRA:
On Tuesday’s CNN This Morning, host Kasie Hunt gave no pushback as Congressman Marc Veasey (D-TX) called for more gun control in the aftermath of the Wisconsin school shooting as he also complained about opposition from the NRA.
Even when the Democrat congressman admitted to having doubts about whether more gun control would actually work, the CNN host still did not try to steer to conversation to anything that might actually work — like arming teachers.
After Congressman Veasey recalled that, while he was working as a teacher, there was a 14-year-old in his school who was caught with a gun he bought on the illegal black market, Hunt followed up: “Do you think that this has become normal in America? And is there anything that can be done about it?”
It’s obviously not “normal.” But CNN paints America like the most violent nation on Earth. Congressman Veasey then used the tired Democrat playbook of trying to blame the NRA as he responded:
[…]Hunt brought up ghost guns as she followed up: “Do you think that there would be any path in Congress for legislation related to ghost guns? Especially in the wake of the CEO killing where a ghost gun was apparently allegedly used in that murder. Is that an area where Republicans and Democrats could find some common ground?”
Congressman Veasey responded by tying in the NRA again as he called for more regulation of ghost guns:
Wilmouth may whine about others blaming the NRA for America’s extreme gun culture, but he didn’t offer any evidence that it was inaccurate.
The MRC loves to defend ghost guns despite their central role in gun violence.
Jorge Bonilla spent a Dec. 18 post dubiously divining a motive for the shooter that conveniently conforms with right-wing narratives:
At this stage, the motive of the Madison school shooter seems pretty clear, but the network news seems hesitant to report what it is. Of course, this generally means that the motive is inconvenient to prevailing leftwing narratives or identity politics. This case is not the exception.
[…]As our friends at Not the Bee report, radical feminism was the shooter’s main motivation. Not reported by ABC is the fact that the shooter posted several writings across multiple platforms indicating what can be reasonably described as an eliminationist hatred of men.
ABC’s 13-second reporting on motive was brief and incomplete, and was also the best the networks had to offer. Inexplicably, CBS and NBC didn’t even touch motive, despite the neo-Nazi angle being out there.
In fact, the MRC’s “friends” at Not the Bee is known for reporting highly biased and false claims. Bonilla’s evidence here is an article featuring claims by far-right writer Andy Ngo — who’s best known for turning getting hit by a milkshake into a career of right-wing grievance journalism — making claims about the shooter’s alleged online postings that, contrary to Bonilla’s assertion, lack evidence that make them “confirmed to be attributable to the shooter.” Additionally, Ngo and Bonlla’s anti-male conspiracy theory fell apart further when it was revealed that the two victims who died were both women.
Despite that lack of actual evidence, Bonilla whined anyway:
This shooting is not an easy one to report for the media, inasmuch as there isn’t an easy narrative to run with. The shooting was conducted with a pistol so there isn’t really much of a gun control angle to work with, and the only mystery left is the provenance of the handgun. If the shooter obtained the gun as an illegal gift from a parent, then this will become the angle the media runs with- as was the case in the Michigan and Georgia shootings.
Feminism paired with neo-Nazism and school shooter worship? That’s a no-win angle and furthermore explains why the media are uncomfortable when it comes to reporting on motive in the Madison school shooting.
Or, you know, such claims about the shooter have yet to verified by credible news organizations even a month after the shooting — which is why Bonilla chose to cite a propagandist instead.
At least the MRC didn’t do what WorldNetDaily did and hype false rumors claiming the shooter was transgender, so that’s something.