At Townhall.com today we have a treat. F. Paul Valone, the head of Grass Roots North Carolina (GRNC), who often writes for us and of course often appears on local radio, has written a national story. Valone is outraged that Leftist media is Misrepresenting Gun Tracing to Smear a US Senator. First term Senator Ted Budd happens to own a gun store and range facilites. Unlike our other US Senator, gun owners can count on Budd not to stab us in the back (we hope.) Anyway, let Valone tell it:
On gun issues, never underestimate the capacity of leftist media to distort, obfuscate, and downright lie. If they can simultaneously smear a pro-Second Amendment legislator, so much the better.
Such was the piece by McClatchy newspapers, which recently spun an elaborate yarn based on firearm tracing reports and false accusations against Second Amendment defender Senator Ted Budd (R-NC). And what was Sen. Budd’s “crime?” Owning a gun shop and firing range named “ProShots.”
“NC senator’s gun shop among hundreds monitored by ATF for weapons traced to crimes,” headlined the piece, which breathlessly described his ostensible transgression: “For the third year in a row, the gun shop owned by U.S. Sen. Ted Budd was among hundreds across the country flagged by federal authorities in 2023 for selling weapons that were later traced to crimes, according to newly released records.”
All very sinister! Could it be that ProShots is on the list for political reasons? In this day and age, would that shock anyone? Valone goes on to note:
Despite McClatchy’s assertions, traced guns are not “crime guns:” Guns used in crimes are not necessarily traced, and guns traced are not necessarily used in crimes, a long-acknowledged problem. Said a 2009 Congressional Research Service report: “Firearms trace data … may be biased by several factors,” further saying “traced firearms … may not be representative of firearms possessed and used by criminals” and “there remains significant variation over time and from jurisdiction to jurisdiction as to ‘when, why, and how’ a firearm is recovered and selected to be traced…” Mine was once traced during a traffic stop before being returned. Did that make it a “crime gun?”
Gentle readers should go on to read the whole article by Valone. It is very instructive to learn that the ATF trace data is not worth the paper in is printed on because of various flaws in gathering of the data. Also, one should always remember that every gun sold by any Federal Firearm Licensee (FFL) is approved by the FBI through its National Instant Background Check (NICS) system. Valone cloese with:
ProShots was undoubtedly ensnared by Joe Biden’s weaponized ATF and the so-called “zero tolerance” program through which it has shut down hundreds of gun dealers for even minor paperwork violations – all, of course, part of a scheme to curtail gun ownership by executive order. If anything, ProShots should be congratulated for surviving the Biden quagmire.
Naturally, I pointed out these fallacies and more during interviews with McClatchy reporters, who downplayed or ignored every one because, after all, when it comes to ostensibly “mainstream” media coverage of gun issues, truth no longer matters.
Indeed
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