By David Codrea
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “CNN tried to explain a #BUMPSTOCK with an animation and failed,” conservative Twitter poster @jojoh888 tweeted Sunday. “Libs deserve CNN.”
The network isn’t ridiculed as “the most busted name in news” for nothing, and its “selective reporting” sins of commission and omission have been exhaustively documented over the years by plenty of others besides me.
In this case, they were taking part in a budding bump stock ban pile-on while trying to maintain the appearance of impartial and authoritative journalists – and as the screen capture above shows, getting the information they were mass-disseminating unsurprisingly wrong.
“CNN as usual is factually incorrect,” Historic Arms LLC President Len Savage told AmmoLand Shooting Sports News. “What the CNN animation is showing is a normal M4 style adjustable stock being collapsed and then extended repeatedly. (Not to mention the grenade launcher, and silencer are distinctly different weapons under the NFA and have nothing to do with a bump stock.)
“A bump stock has a shelf or rest for the trigger finger attached to the butt stock portion of the device so that when the firearm fires recoil makes it slide backward and because the firer must be pushing forward on the fore grip that pressure makes the whole firearm slide forward and the trigger runns into the firer’s finger,” Savage explained, referencing ruling letters from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. Several such “approval letters” are posted by Fostech Outdoors (which owns the rights to them) on its website.
“What I do know is that bump stocks were caused by the government,” Savage elaborated. “When 18 USC 922(o) was implemented it fixed the supply of civilian legal to own machine guns. Supply was fixed, demand has grown steadily over the years and American ingenuity was used to fill the demand.
“The bump stock and ‘simulated full auto’ was born,” he concluded. “Fact is you can bump fire any semi-auto firearm without a bump fire stock. The stock does make it somewhat safer to do so. I also know that Diane Feinstein was correct in that no legislation or gun control would have stopped the evil bastard in Vegas.”
And that calls to mind the position of the National Rifle Association “that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully-automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations,” giving the green light to Republican politicians to throw such devices under the bus. Trying to differentiate between “regulation” and “legislation” is equivocation in light of that stated belief.
Severe inaccuracy caused renowned statistician Dr. Fritz Scheuring to declare such records “insufficient for criminal proceedings.” That, and conflicting ATF rules and enforcement actions, have been the motivators behind Freedom of Information Act requests and subsequent lawsuits. Why would NRA want to add more to their plate?
Speaking of severe record inaccuracy, there’s no excuse for CNN or any professional news outlet to continue getting gun reporting so wrong. There are plenty of authoritative resources reporters can consult with, provided gun experts don‘t get sick and tired of being misrepresented and refuse to give them the time of day.
But accuracy is not in their interests. DSM (Duranty/Streicher Media) purposes are better served if they let useful idiot reporters and equally insulated editors and producers continue spreading their ignorance.
After all, a readership/audience that forms opinions based on such hysteria is likely to vote the narrative.
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.