From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
NRA-ILA FAX ALERT
Vol. 7, No. 41 10/13/00
JENNINGS AND ABC RECONFIRM ANTI-NRA BIAS
Last Monday's "ABC News" hour-long program on NRA, "Peter Jennings
Reporting: The Gun Fight," exhibited the standard anti-gun, anti-NRA bias
we have learned to expect from the "mainstream media." Those who watched
the program heard Jennings make a number of misleading comments, but there
were also statements made in the program that were flat-out wrong. For
example, the anchor challenged NRA Executive Vice President Wayne
LaPierre, charging that NRA's repeated assertion that the Clinton-Gore
Administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) has failed miserably to
enforce federal gun laws against violent felons. While Jennings correctly
stated that the NRA-ILA website contains reference to zero prosecutions in
1996, zero in 1997 and zero in 1998 (the zero for 1998 should be one, as
is reflected in NRA printed materials), he failed to tell his viewers that
the website clearly states those numbers refer only to prosecutions under
the Brady Act's Instant Check phase. He also failed to mention the fact
that referrals for federal prosecution of firearms law violations by the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms -- the agency charged with
enforcing federal firearms laws -- have sharply declined under the
Clinton-Gore Administration, and that the Clinton-Gore DOJ currently is
being sued for denying news organizations and the general public access to
information about how it has enforced the nation's firearms laws. For more
details on Jennings' misleading charges on federal prosecutions, you can
find the document "ABC's Gun Fight Aims At Wrong Target" posted to
NRAILA.org. If you do not have Internet access, but would still like a
copy of this release please call the Grassroots Division at (800)
392-8683.
Jennings also made several misleading comments about how NRA works with
its allies. First, he implied that NRA was responsible for Richard Feldman
losing his job with the American Shooting Sports Council (ASSC), after
Feldman orchestrated a Rose Garden ceremony with Bill Clinton and a few
gun makers. The ABC program also included a quote from Smith & Wesson
(S&W) CEO (at the time) Ed Shultz, where Shultz claimed "the NRA wants to
be the spokesman for the [firearms] industry." Of course, NRA had no
controlling interest in ASSC, which was dissolved last year, and the
National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which has always represented
the interests of the firearms industry, continues to take the lead role in
representing gun makers. Jennings also misled viewers with his discussion
about U.S. Representative Bart Stupak (D-Mich). Jennings was correct when
he referred to Stupak as having been pro-gun in the past. But he also
claimed that Stupak had a 100% voting record with NRA until last year's
House debate over Juvenile Justice Reform and Gun Shows. Jennings implied
that Stupak had only voted against an NRA positions once, when, during the
debate last year, he voted against NRA and the pro-Second Amendment
community at least six times. He also had voted at least twice against NRA
positions prior to that debate. If you wish to contact ABC News to protest
its biased reporting, you can find its website at www.abcnews.go.com/, or
you can call ABC at (212) 456-7777.
S&W CEO SHULTZ GONE
In an interesting side story to the "ABC News" report, NRA received word
the week prior to the story's airing that George Colclough replaced Ed
Shultz as S&W CEO. Shultz, of course, was at the helm of S&W when the
British-owned gun maker entered into the now-infamous capitulation to the
Clinton-Gore Administration known by many as the S&W Sellout (see Special
FAX Alert, 3/20/00). S&W has suffered financially ever since the
Shultz-negotiated Sellout. And the ex-CEO is also known for having
maligned law-abiding gun owners, implying that those who have "gun racks
on their pickup trucks" and support the Second Amendment are the same
kinds of people who Shultz accused of making threats to him for his
sellout to the Clinton-Gore Team (see FAX Alert, Vol. 7, No. 27). Shultz
is now the president of Murray, Inc., a company that builds lawnmowers,
go-carts, snow-removal equipment, and recreational equipment for use in
snow.
--
Finally!
Steve.
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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