Public Broadcasting Shows on Guns Oct. 2017

[DaleA]

Public Radio and gun control

Predictably Public Radio has had some discussion about gun control and predictably they portray themselves as being very ‘open’ on the issue, as in ‘open’ to any and all new gun control legislation that anyone wants to push. In fact the shows were so predictable I would understand completely if folk here don’t want to waste their time checking them out, but if you do:

Show #1
The Politics of America's Guns
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/10/06/politics-of-guns

Show #2
Flyover: Let's talk gun control, again
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/10/08/flyover-gun-control

Details of the shows----------------------------------------------------------

Show #1
The Friday, October 6, 2017 Roundtable
The Politics of America's Guns
This show had three expert guests. Two of them were for more gun control and to balance things out the third was really for a LOT more gun control. Sigh.

This show was notable for the following: At about the 19 minute mark they had one of their expert guests toss out the mental health canard again.

Expert Guest: They (Congress) actually loosened restrictions with regard to the mentally ill. It's Incredible.
Host: Loosened restrictions as far as access to weapons?
EG: Yup.
Host: By people with mental illness?
EG: Yes they did.

We also learned in the show that it's just common folklore that the second amendment was designed to protect liberty and protect people from tyrannical excesses of government.

Show #2
Flyover: Let's talk gun control, again
Sunday, October 8, 2017
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/10/08/flyover-gun-control

This week on Flyover, a conversation about the division between Americans who count gun ownership as a fundamental freedom and those who feel that there should be more rules around who has the right to exercise that freedom. Our guests were Brian Levin, director of California State University-San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism; and Jaclyn Schildkraut, assistant professor of public justice at the State University of New York at Oswego.

I would say ‘lackluster’ describes this show. They never did anything that was very outrageous or noteworthy. They never take many calls but they took more than usual on this show. Here’s some.

1. They did have a caller that very civilly chided gun control advocates for not knowing what they were talking about.
2. They had the requisite Southern gun owner who said they would never take his guns, but he did NOT support allowing silencers and wanted MORE restrictions on who could buy guns.
3. They had a liberal in NY that was thinking about getting a gun. The host quickly told them how dangerous a gun would be to them. The liberal mentioned they were totally against assault weapons.
4. The had a concealed carry holder call in and the host was devastated when the caller patiently told her that had he been at the Las Vegas concert there would not have been anything he could have done. You know, the distance, no clear target etc.
5. A self-identified black woman from Chicago called in and wanted to know why the NRA didn’t defend concealed carry holder Philando Castile.

What really surprised me about the show was the comments on Facebook about the show. There were very few. A goodly number of the comments were from gun folk and they brought forward examples where Public Broadcasting shows their bias on this issue. The comments can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/MPRnews/videos/10155365360883591/

 

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Expert Guest: They (Congress) actually loosened restrictions with regard to the mentally ill. It's Incredible.
Host: Loosened restrictions as far as access to weapons?
EG: Yup.
Host: By people with mental illness?
EG: Yes they did.

No, they didn't. Claiming they loosed restrictions with regard to the mentally ill is a complete LIE!!!

It bugs me a lot, and has been since the lie came out. All the talking heads seem to be repeating it, without question, and none of them even seem to be aware that it is a lie.

One of the best ways I've found to shut down that particular lie, is when spouted, ask a couple of questions.

"they made it easier for mentally ill people to get guns!!"

"HOW??"

(crickets chirping...)

"well, they changed the law to make it easier..."

"How? what did they change???"

(crickets again...)

"I don't know, I'm not a legal expert!"

"You don't know what they did, are not a legal expert, and yet you're telling me what the law did....as IF YOU WERE."

I did a little research (and it didn't take much, just actually reading what they did, rather than taking a gun hater's word for it) and what they did was simply to change the law to require the government to follow its own rules!!!

The problem was that different govt agencies use their own definitions, and the LAW uses another. People who applied for Social Security assistance due to mental illness (and particularly people who had someone else legally managing their financial affairs, were being reported by SSA as "mentally ill" to the Treasury (who runs the background check system) and because Treasury (ATF, etc.) only has one definition of mentally ill, and that definition is "mentally ill = prohibited person". So they put the people the SSA reported to them on the prohibited persons list.

Sounds simple, sounds like the right thing to do, mentally ill people shouldn't have guns, right??

BUT we have a law about that, which says that you cannot be made a prohibited person due to mental health, until AFTER you get your day in court, and a judge rules you incompetent.

Social Security has their own standards for what qualifies you to receive benefits due to mental illness. And, it is a determination that is made entirely within the Social Security Administration. Social Security deciding you are mentally ill enough to qualify for their standards has no bearing or authority anywhere else outside of the Social Security Administration.

But the Treasury dept was acting as if it did, and putting people on the prohibited list, without following the law. Rights were being denied! (not just 2nd Am right, but ALSO due process rights)

The change made was to tell Treasury to follow the law, and not put people on the prohibited list just because Social Security had them on their mentally ill list.

This did NOT affect anything else. People who have been adjudicated mentally incompetent (the proper procedure, under the law) cannot buy guns. NO CHANGE was made to this, its the same now as it has been since 1968!!!!

SO, any claim that the govt made it "easier" for the mentally ill to buy guns is a LIE!!!!!

 

[SIGSHR]

As a long time NPR listener I have learned not to take them too seriously. Their liberal bias is obvious as is their struggle to be "objective" and "neutral". Something NPR Garrison Keillor said describes their dilemma.He was accused of making anti-homosexual comments. He replied:
"I live in a small world-the world of entertainment, musicians, writers..and in that small world we kid each other a lot. But in the larger world....." We are totally alien to them, and it is expecting too much to expect them to leave their narrow world where they are comfortable and secure.