Day by Day cartoon

Friday, April 17, 2009

National Public Radio acknowledges the 90% Guns Canard!

UPDATE: Rewritten to reformat and add some clarity.

First, read the email I sent to National Public Radio first thing this morning in response to a story on yesterday's programming-

Message #: 5607-8545217
Date Created: 4/17/2009 10:27 AM EDT
Subject: Please research the "90% of guns in Mexico" canard
Body: I am a long time listener and supporter but I have to call into question ATC's continued repeating of a oft-repeated story, promoted just yesterday by Pres. Obama, about the "90% of guns found in Mexico came from American gunstores".

That story is simply not true yet it is used to promote continued talk of restricting legal sales of guns to American citizens and the lie of this story needs to be halted immediately. Please review this article before repeating the lie on your programs again.

Stop to consider- one of the big complaints about the guns in Mexico are fully automatic weapons, hand grenades and rocket-propelled grenades. Fully automatic weapon sales in the US have been very carefully controlled since 1934 with the National Firearms Act. There are NO hand grenades or RPGs for sale to civilians in any gun store in America- they are strictly military weapons. So if the drug cartels have these restricted items, by far the items came in through any number of foreign sales or through desertions from the Mexican army or from corruption within the Mexican military and government.

So please give this "90% of guns in Mexico are from US gunstores" lie a rest. Don't let those people you interview repeat this lie without taking them to task for their repeating of a lie.

Now I know it is a little repetitive and the spousal unit grouched at me for not editing better before hitting SEND, but that was my email. And later this afternoon, I got a response-

From: "NPR - Listener Care"
Date: April 17, 2009 9:45:26 AM MDT
To:
Subject: Message #5607-8545217: (Please research the "90% of guns in Mexico" canard)
Reply-To:

Dear Nate,

Thank you for contacting NPR.

We are grateful for your comments to NPR News. Your feedback is important to us, and your thoughts have been noted.

NPR is always delighted to hear from listeners.

Thank you for listening, and for your continued support of public broadcasting. For the latest news and information, visit NPR.org.

Sincerely,

Alan
NPR Services
(202) 513-3232
www.npr.org

NPR encourages you to support your favorite public radio station. Please visit http://www.npr.org/stations/donate/index.php?ps=200, select your station, and make a financial contribution.

NPR invites you to join its audience advisory panel, NPR Listens. Learn more at http://www.npr.org/listens.

That's a real boilerplate response, right? Imagine my surprise in my car tonight on my way home from work to hear Michelle Norris begin a story titled Where Does Mexico Get It's Guns? The first part of the article is an interview with Robert Farley from Politifact.com who pretty thoroughly debunks the "90% canard" on their own website. Michelle later interviews Robert Farley, who proceeds to downplay the numbers and make up his own, unsupported numbers for the guns that may make it across the border into Mexico.

But here is the good part- Michelle remarks that "at least one listener" wrote to suggest that All Things Considered check out the report at Fox News that busts the myth of American guns in Mexico. And I am staking my claim as being THAT listener! My email above is proof enough for me!

Of course, I don't really know if I was the person that caused the staff at NPR to research and produce this new story but the coincidence is pretty remarkable. And I was very pleased to hear ATC admit that they were repeating numbers that they had taken for granted and not researched. Of course President Barry uses the same numbers so maybe somebody could take the effort to make him aware of his math errors!

No comments:

Post a Comment

This is your opportunity to speak up...