Posted on 12/04/2012 4:21:27 PM PST by neverdem
When celebrities and media personalities attempt to plumb the depths of our social consciousness, the result is rarely pretty. Such was the case Sunday night when NBC sportscaster Bob Costas shamelessly tried to capitalize on the recent and tragic murder-suicide involving the NFL’s Jovan Belcher to score personal political points against law-abiding gun owners.
For anyone who missed it, in his halftime segment during Sunday night’s NFL game between the Dallas Cowboy and the Philadelphia Eagles, Costas hit his captive audience of football fans over the head with this absurd rant:
You want some actual perspective on this? Well, a bit of it comes from the Kansas City-based writer Jason Whitlock with whom I do not always agree, but who today said it so well that we may as well just quote or paraphrase from the end of his article …
Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it. In the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions, and their possible connection to football, will be analyzed. Who knows?
But here, wrote Jason Whitlock, is what I believe. If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.
Only a media elitist, living a cloistered life inside the NBC newsroom, could let loose with such a woefully ignorant, ill-timed and irresponsible statement. Furthermore, the fact that Costas tried to partially hide behind a fellow journalist borders on cowardice.
According to criminologist Gary Kleck, 2.5 million Americans use firearms to defend their lives and the lives of their loved ones each year. The obvious truth is that if Bob Costas and his gun-ban buddies at NBC had their way, many of these innocent men and women would not be alive today.
Seemingly, Costas has absolutely no knowledge of the fact that good men and women — and oftentimes, the physically weakest among us — rely on firearms as the only reasonable means of protecting themselves from would-be murderers, rapists and thugs.
Take the case of the elderly woman in Sarasota, Florida, who, earlier this year, used a handgun to fend off an attacker who broke through her kitchen window. “I was fearful of my life,” the grandmother tearfully told a 911 operator after she fired two shots at the intruder, causing him to flee.
Or the case of a young Oklahoma mother, who used a firearm to successfully defend herself and her three-month-old baby this past New Year’s Eve from a man armed with a 12-inch hunting knife who kicked in her door and came straight for her and her child.
On the other hand, consider the tragic reality of Bob Costas’ and Jason Whitlock’s gun-ban utopia.
In 2007, Amanda Collins was a student at the University of Nevada, Reno. Although she possessed a legal permit to carry a handgun, the university prohibited her from doing so on campus property.
Late one night, after taking a mid-term exam, Collins was attacked and brutally raped in a campus parking garage located just 100 yards from a police station. And although she escaped with her life that night, another young woman abducted near the same campus would not be so lucky.
Brianna Denison had been staying with a friend during winter break when she went missing in the middle of the night. After a frantic, four-week search, authorities finally found Brianna’s naked, frozen body, crudely hidden underneath a discarded Christmas tree. She had been kidnapped, raped and strangled to death — savaged by the same monster who attacked Amanda in the parking garage just a few months earlier.
As is often the case with media talking heads, it’s doubtful that Bob Costas has any real understanding of the recklessness of his statements. However, ignorance is never a good excuse, and that’s especially true for someone like Bob Costas, who prides himself on being a responsible journalist.
Bob Costas offended millions of law-abiding, gun-owning football fans with his gun-ban rant. He not only owes every one of us an apology, but also a promise that, in the future, he’ll stick to doing what he’s paid very well to do: talk about sports.
Chris W. Cox is the Executive Director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) and serves as the organization’s chief lobbyist.
Anti-gun sports columnist Jason Whitlock: ‘The NRA Is the New KKK’ [AUDIO]
Little Bobby is living proof that you just can’t fix stupid. It’s a good thing he didn’t grow up to be a doctor or scientist or some career that requires a brain.
Clearly, sports casters - as is the case with virtually all media pretty boys - have more bucks than IQ points.
He didn’t “interrupt” the game, halftime did. Dumb choice of commentary, though!
Hit back at the little Nazi scum and ask him how many millions of babies he needs to slaughter with abortion before his Mengele bloodlust is satisfied.
It’s time to stop reacting to what these nazis spew and make them defend their mass murder, tyranny and racism.
“Look at that monkey run..!” —> FIRED
WHY IS THIS DIFFERENT...?
Rush said some conservative stuff —> FIRED
See the pattern?
Say LIBERAL insane stuff, and you’re OK. But if you say CONSERVATIVE stuff, then you’re fired.
Good point. I can’t believe that I was actually watching that game. Man. I’m old. oy.
Yeah, right- he couldn't have strangled her, broken her neck, stabbed her, drowned her, beaten her to death with his bare hands or any numer of blunt or not-so-blunt objects or set her on fire. And he couldn't have jumped off a bridge, taken poison, hanged himself or committed hara-kiri...
Excellent point.
A thread above reports that Bob has called the commentary “a mistake.” I’m guessing he read all of today’s negative reports about Belcher’s character. He might want to wait for the facts next time before, err, shooting off his mouth.
yup. also, I wonder how many fans he “offended” if they were listening.
Your tagline caught my attention. Could you private email a reason? I’m a 1/8 mom.
Hank! = GONE!
BOB = ?
Nope. “Look at that little monkey run”. (From 1973 and was NOT fired.) “That little monkey gets loose doesn’t he”? (From 1983 and was NOT fired).
Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya, Bob.
I hope Costas was aware that his was only a Leftist opionion about guns, and that he is not being paid to rant about it.
You turd, you do realize intimates have been killing each other since long before guns were invented, right Bobby?
I hate that little troll.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2965639/posts
Is that a Greek name like Stephanopoulos?
Why are all those greeks so liberal. They make good businessmen in America but they all tilt so far to the left in a artsy naive way, it is irksome.
Oh, and why is it not an OJ Simpson domestic violence case this time? Or a Tim Zimmerman case?
The NFL has its share of blacks murdering their woman alright.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.