Bay Area Media Coverage

WoundedWolf · May 2004

I know this may not interest most of you in other parts of the country, but just remember: your city, town, or state is next!

This past week I have seen two different local San Francisco TV stations broadcast "expose" style reports on illegal firearms on Bay Area streets. This coincides with a press conference a couple days ago by SF Mayor Gavin Newsom and the SFPD about the proliferation of "illegal assault weapons" on San Francisco's streets, and how it will only get worse if the Federal Assault Weapon Ban is allowed to lapse. San Francisco is currently suffering a major violent crime spree, consisting mostly of gang-related incidents over the past few months.

Anyway, here are some links to recent reports from Channel 5 (CBS):

http://cbs5.com/news/local/2004/04/27/Top_SF_Officials_Speak_Against_Assault_Weapons.html

http://cbs5.com/news/local/2004/05/24/Assault_Weapons:_Man_Tells_His_Story_of_Gun_Attack.html

http://cbs5.com/news/local/2004/05/24/Bay_Area_Police_Speak_Out_Against_Assault_Weapons.html

...and Channel 2 (FOX):

http://www.ktvu.com/news/3348453/detail.html

I sent an e-mail to Channel 5 because I felt their coverage had a lot of holes in it. I know most of you are thinking, "What's the point? It's just the liberal media distorting the truth." I agree, but we gotta start challenging these people, otherwise the average uninformed citizen will just accept this stuff as fact.

Here is the e-mail I sent:

To KPIX Staff,

After viewing your reports last night by Manuel Ramos,
regarding "Assault Weapons", I feel you failed to
explore some important points:

1. The Federal Assault Weapons Ban has been in place
for nearly 10 years now, therefore why are these
weapons still "on the streets"?

2. Given that these weapons are already banned in
California (regardless of the Federal Ban), how does
the SFPD expect that the extension of the Federal Ban
will improve the situation, especially if the SFPD
believes that there are now more of these weapons out
there under the current ban?

3. Why does Gavin Newsom feel that extending the
Federal Ban will remove these weapons from the streets
of San Francisco if the current ban has not been able
to accomplish this?

4. What specifically does the SFPD plan to do to
remove these weapons from the city streets?

As a viewer, I feel that exploring these points would
provide much more complete coverage of this topic.
Perhaps a follow-up report is in order.

Regards,

...

"History will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." -Gandhi

pickenup · May 2004

Might want to remind them that California is among the top of the list, when it comes to how strict the firearms laws are. Their state laws are ALREADY more strict than most all of the AWB. Whether the AWB is renewed or not, will have little bearing on California, along with some other states. So why are they wasting money on ads for something that will do them little, if any, good?

The gene pool needs chlorine.

WoundedWolf · May 2004

You are exactly right, pickenup. The Federal AWB is basically meaningless to California because we already have a stricter ban than the Federal AWB. California has banned any firearm with a detachable magazine and ONE of the "assault weapon" features (as opposed to the TWO features designated under the federal ban).

I suspect that the opposing response would be that the Federal Ban still affects California because "assault weapons" could still be smuggled in from other states. Here is a quote from one of the above Channel 5 reports that supports this:

"Federal agents say a major source for Bay Area criminals is Nevada. State undercover agents have seen the weapons sold at gun shows. Police say the solution is to come down hard on anyone carrying these weapons."

The problem is, any gun that is legally sold in Nevada is NOT considered an "assault weapon" under the Federal AWB, otherwise they wouldn't be allowed to be legally sold. However, due to California's stricter definition of an "assault weapon", firearms are surely sold in Nevada that are not legal in California, regardless of whether it is at a gun show, a dealer, a private sale, whatever. Of course the media wants us to believe that every illegal firearms transaction is performed at a gun show.

Anyway, the problem is not with the out-of-state transactions (as long as they are complying with the firearms laws in their own state). The problem is that people are illegally smuggling firearms into California that violate California state law. These people are criminals, even though I agree that it shouldn't be illegal, but it still is, and they CHOOSE to enter California with these illegal firearms.

So the only way for law enforcement to reduce the number of these CA illegal firearms in the state is to stop the smuggling. Coming out and making a political statement in support of the Federal AWB is not doing anything to remove these illegal firearms from the streets. That is why I asked question #4 above.

Thanks for the feedback!

"History will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." -Gandhi

black_adder2 · May 2004

Mayby you ought to ask why LA and NYC, two cities with the tighest gun control laws, are constantly competing for the highest per capita gun violence rates?

2gun · May 2004

if their police are hanging out in nevada watching gun shows we know why the crime rate is going up, they havent got any cops preventing crime in san fran?

second, if they have been able to spot all these illegal gun sales to kali residents why are they not stopping these felons from bringing these guns back to kali?

third, if crime is that bad there, all the crooks have assualt weapons, all the cops are at gun shows in other states.....that sounds like a dangerous place, as a non criminal with a family and a home i think i'd have no choice but to get at least as good a weapon as the crooks have, i dont want to be outgunned.[}:)]

happiness is a warm gun, preferably preban

Salvage33 · May 2004

In addition to LA and NYC...you need to add Washington, D.C. to that list.

I do believe that the folks by the bay are mounting the first step in making the AWB a national political ploy for the democRATs.

John

A friend will post your bail. A good friend will be sitting next to you in the cell saying, "man that was fun!"

TRAP55 · May 2004

This kinda B/S comes up every time some anti-gun law comes up for a vote. Don't be surprised to see where some nutcase shoots up a school or his workplace just before the AWB will sunset. I've been hearing the ads on the radio every hour about the fine piece of journalism (read anti-gun propaganda)thats going to be on the Bay area news. What would you expect from Sodom amd Gomorra on the bay!?

Bay Area Media Coverage

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