Are the Media getting more ‘savvy’ about guns?

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DaleA

New member
It’s just my own personal observation but to me it seems main stream media stories about the Virginia Beach shooting cover the firearms aspect much better than in the past. They said the shooter had .45 pistols with suppressors and the AP story below doesn’t go nuts and demonize suppressors. They present opinions that the suppressor(s) probably had no positive or negative effect.

It also seems the name of the shooter is NOT appearing as often in this story as it has in past shootings.

Could it be that the media are tired of looking like fools when they describe guns? Could it be that they are trying to minimize the publicity given the bad guy?

One can hope.

https://www.apnews.com/1cfdc645dbd54592b685b977e211c99b
 
DaleA said:
One can hope.
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One can indeed hope, but the plural of "anecdote" is not "data." We'll need more than one or two or even three such stories before we can begin to ask whether or not we're seeing a trend.

"Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile."
 
Or they repeated what law enforcement released to them and since it broke on Saturday they haven't had time to invent anything else. Or there weren't enough victims to justify a deep dive into suppressors. I'd love to see the media become savvy about anything, but I'm not holding my breath.
 
The personal data on the shooter also has played a major part in reporting.

Just like the personal details of the two Colorado shooters of two weeks ago played a major part in that story getting dropped like a red hot cannon ball.

Crime reporting depends on whether the shooter is a member of a protected class.
 
From a cynical viewpoint, there is no point to highlighting suppressor use here. It just shows that gun control far beyond what is politically acceptable is still ineffective. So instead of hitting on that, they’ll just bang on the numbers and suggest that all of their preferred restrictions might have made a difference when we all know it would not have.
 
I've noted the same. With the attention given to "fake news" recently it seems they are making an effort to get details more accurate.
 
jmr40 said:
I've noted the same. With the attention given to "fake news" recently it seems they are making an effort to get details more accurate.
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No. They have been quiet about it because it doesn't fit their agenda. The shooter was a nice looking 40 year old black engineer with no prior history of misdeads or problems and he had no social media presence. He used legally bought 45 caliber handguns he bought in 2016 and 2018. He apparently didn't give any warning of problems.

He did the shooting in a gun free zone and it's fortunate that the police department was in the same complex so they got there quickly. He shot people on three floors and in the parking lot. Had it not been a gun free zone (thanks to a former governor), a concealed carrier could have ended the shooting much faster.
 
The MSM is probably disheartened that he is not the white male veteran devil that they have been scaring everyone with for years... or at least trying to. Usually there are several stories by now asking if PTSD had something to do with it... they aren't asking anything about this... this is one mass shooting the media wants to go away quickly.
 
The MSM is probably disheartened that he is not the white male veteran devil that they have been scaring everyone with for years... or at least trying to. Usually there are several stories by now asking if PTSD had something to do with it... they aren't asking anything about this... this is one mass shooting the media wants to go away quickly.
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Like the one at the Navy yard a couple of years ago.
 
Lots of interesting points here, but I was considering the reporting from the point of technical accuracy about the guns, as jmr40 mentioned in post #6.

I mean, how many times have we encountered stuff like the following:
“They used a .9mm handgun”
“They used a 40mm handgun”
“They used a Glock revolver” (from my own hometown newspaper)

Or one of the all-time flubs was a Fox “forensics expert” that commented on a mass shooting of police officers in Dallas a few years back. The commentary is still on Youtube with the title “Fox News Goes Full Retard On Dallas Shooting” which I think is very accurate and led to a super rebuttal.

Fox News Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrviYkGPN_E

Funny Rebuttal of the Fox News Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clxRz-AXv8o
 
I imagine a mass shooter with a quality suppressor
could carry on his mayhem longer because it would
take the police longer to pinpoint his location in a
bullding.

Similarly it would be harder for potential victims to
know the mass shooter was coming their way.
 
What I really would like to know what is considered an extended 1911 mag. 8 rounds? 9 rounds? 10? Early on in the reporting some expert said that the guy had extended mags and the could have up to 30 rounds. 30 round 1911 mags?
 
Onward Allusion said:
What I really would like to know what is considered an extended 1911 mag. 8 rounds? 9 rounds? 10? Early on in the reporting some expert said that the guy had extended mags and the could have up to 30 rounds. 30 round 1911 mags?
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If grammar counts for anything anymore (which we know it doesn't), then one might think that an extended magazine is one that extends. The most rounds of .45 ACP that be crammed into a flush-fit 1911 magazine is eight rounds -- and those aren't especially reliable. Most of the magazine makers have taken to using tubes that extend maybe 1/4 of an inch even for their 8-round magazines. The Chip McCormick 10-rounders extend about an inch.

I found some 15-rounders: https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/1911-45-acp-15-rd-mag-blued-steel?a=407996

I thought I had heard of 20-rounders, but I couldn't find any in a quick search.

But did anyone say he had a 1911? Everything I've read said ".45". Could have been double stack Glocks, in .45 ACP or even .45 GAP. Or a CZ double stack.
 
"...more ‘savvy’ about guns?..." Not that anybody would notice.
Note this kind of nonsense.
"that gun-control advocates have warned about"
"can help shooters escape detection and inflict more carnage."
"something that sounded like a nail gun."
"people who sort of know what that sound is.”
"coupled with the caliber of weapon he was using,”
"...and those aren't especially reliable..." Um, that's not true.
Promag makes a 40 round drum mag. Promag stuff is known for not working well though.
KCI makes 'em too.
 
I imagine a mass shooter with a quality suppressor
could carry on his mayhem longer because it would
take the police longer to pinpoint his location in a
bullding.
Click to expand...

Not true. Even a good suppressor is only going to reduce the noise by 30db or so. With a centerfire handgun, that takes us from ear-splitting volume to simply REALLY LOUD volume, and it's still easily identifiable as a gunshot.
 
I imagine a mass shooter with a quality suppressor
could carry on his mayhem longer because it would
take the police longer to pinpoint his location in a
bullding.
Click to expand...
Not true. Even a good suppressor is only going to reduce the noise by 30db or so. With a centerfire handgun, that takes us from ear-splitting volume to simply REALLY LOUD volume, and it's still easily identifiable as a gunshot.
Click to expand...

Military Arms Channel is a youtube channel that frequently tests suppressors. He holds that 140db is "hearing safe", but other sources list "hearing safe" as quite a bit lower. Even by his lax standards many suppressors he tests either are louder than 140db or barely under, in the mid 130db range. That's still loud enough to cause hearing damage.
 
UncleEd said:
I imagine a mass shooter with a quality suppressor
could carry on his mayhem longer because it would
take the police longer to pinpoint his location in a
bullding.

Similarly it would be harder for potential victims to
know the mass shooter was coming their way.
Click to expand...
It only lowers the sound from deafening to painfully loud.
 
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