Posted on 05/22/2003 9:51:53 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
Update on CNN's very distorted comparison of the firepower of a legal versus an illegal "assault weapon." In a Wednesday Miami Herald story, a CNN spokesman conceded that a sheriff's deputy fired the illegal weapon into cinder blocks, thus showing the firepower as chunks blew away, but when demonstrating a legal model, while CNN's camera showed the same cinder blocks being unscathed, the deputy was really firing into the ground, thus suggesting a difference in firepower when none existed.
First, some background. An excerpt from the May 20 CyberAlert:
Reeling from NRA Executive Director Wayne LaPierre charging CNN with fabricating and "deliberately faking" a story last Thursday to demonstrate how a banned "assault weapon" has much more dangerous firepower than a legal model, on Monday's Wolf Blitzer Reports, substitute anchor Miles O'Brien didn't go so far as to offer a retraction, but he did concede CNN's demonstration needed further amplification....
-- Thursday, May 15 Wolf Blitzer Reports, anchored by Kyra Phillips. John Zarrella traveled to the Broward County, Florida Sheriff's Office's outdoor shooting range where Sheriff Ken Jenne narrated what viewers were seeing as a deputy fired two "assault weapons."
Jenne explained why he favors keeping the ban in place: "Because I think guns are the tools of hunters, but these weapons are really the tools to kill people and there's a major, major difference."
First, a deputy fired what Jenne described as "a AK-47, the Chinese version," which is "currently banned."
Viewers saw bullets fired into a pile of cinder blocks and chunks of the cinder block flying off, leaving a big hole in one block. Then, the deputy fired into a bullet-proof vest. Zarrella observed that the bullets "clearly fired right through" the vest.
Second, Jenne set up the next model to be tested: "This is an AK-47 also, but a civilian model. It has some differences and right now this only has a clip of 10 in the magazine -- or 10 rounds in the magazine. So this is a big difference than the 30 rounds in the previous magazine."
Viewers then saw the deputy fire four shots toward the cinder blocks, but nothing happened, not even a speck of the cinder block flew off, never mind any hole being created.
The very clear implication: The illegal model punches right through cinder block with devastating and deadly force, but the legal model can't even cause a speck to fall off.
Upon looking at the MRC videotape frame by frame, with the first rifle you could see a puff of smoke coming out of the end of the barrel as the deputy fired. But with the second gun, you could not see anything, as if no bullet were being fired. And if one was, the deputy either missed the target cinder blocks, or had good enough aim to be firing into the hole created by the first rifle.
Sheriff Jenne, Zarrella didn't bother to note, is a Democrat. From Jenne's bio on the Sheriff's office Web site: "Sheriff Jenne was elected to the Florida Senate in 1978 and retained that position for 18 of the next 20 years. He held all of the top committee chairmanships and was Senate Democratic Leader when Governor Chiles chose him to become Sheriff of Broward County in January 1998, replacing the late Ron Cochran." See: www.sheriff.org
END Excerpt from May 20 CyberAlert
For LaPierre's reaction and more on CNN's semi-clarification: www.mediaresearch.org
++ Video: Thanks to the MRC's Mez Djouadi and Rich Noyes, we've added, to the May 20 CyberAlert, a RealPlayer video clip of CNN's very misleading demonstration.
"NRA says Jenne way off target," read the headline over a May 21 Miami Herald story brought to my attention by the MRC's Liz Swasey. The subhead: "Gun lobby rips sheriff, CNN." An excerpt of the story by Daniel de Vise:
Gun-rights advocates are miffed at Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne and CNN over a recent TV segment that National Rifle Association officials characterize as a virtual political ad for extending a federal ban on some semi-automatic weapons.
Officials of both CNN and the sheriff's office contend they never intended to mislead viewers and say any flaws in the broadcast were accidental....
BSO [Broward Sheriff's Office] and CNN stepped into the fray Thursday with footage of an on-air demonstration purportedly designed to show the difference between banned weapons and their legal counterparts.
When a BSO employee fired a banned weapon, the camera showed bullets ripping through a cinderblock target. When a legal semi-automatic weapon was fired, the camera showed another cinderblock seemingly unharmed.
In fact, the bullets from the legal gun never hit the cinderblock. CNN spokesman Matthew Furman said the camera operator didn't realize the sheriff's employee had switched targets and was firing into the ground.
"When we learned that the demonstration was less than clear, we told our viewers that," Furman said.
The comparison seemed to imply the banned weapon packed more punch than its legal counterpart. In fact, the two are the same in terms of firepower.
NRA officials also protested the use of a fully automatic AK-47 in the piece and the reporter's claim that it was among the targets of the 1994 ban. Fully automatic weapons have been regulated since 1934 and aren't mentioned in the 1994 law.
Sheriff's spokesman Jim Leljedal said Jenne favors extending the 1994 ban but never meant to misinform the CNN audience by participating in the Thursday segment.
"There was never any intent to mislead," Leljedal said. "They wanted to talk about it, so we did, and on very short notice we got some guns out and we did some demonstrations for them."
Three years ago, Jenne backed an unsuccessful bill that would have made it a felony to own an assault weapon in Broward County. Hundreds of gun owners bearing American flags packed into a Broward legislative delegation hearing to oppose it....
END of Excerpt
For the story in its entirety: www.miami.com
BTW, did Deputy Chris Worth fire into the ground on his own volition or was he TOLD to fire into the ground? If so, who told Deputy Worth to fire into the ground? This should be something for an ENTERPRISING REPORTER to investigate.
MLWA
The beauty is that ten years ago they would have gotten away with this type of LYING
You can express your views at: Public.Information@turner.com
"There was never any intent to mislead," Leljedal said
The "marksman" purposely shoots into the ground rather than hitting the target, but there was no intent to mislead.
Fat, lying weasel....
Why would anybody even waste bullets by firing into the ground unless they were TOLD to do so? Some enterprising reporter should contact Deputy Chris Worth and question him on this.
Goebbels would be proud.
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