Garbage Reporting In, Garbage Reporting Out – Lawful Gun Owners Get the Shaft

By Mark Walters

USA – -(Ammoland.com)- As readers who are tuned in to the gun rights movement and the daily attacks we face, you’ll appreciate this column.

Warning: It will anger you, as it should.

Last week it became known that a group of rabid congressional gun-grabbers, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Elijah Cummings (D-MD), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) asked for a taxpayer-funded study to be commissioned by the GAO. The study used the ATF in an undercover operation to facilitate internet gun purchases to prohibited buyers by law-abiding gun owners.

It was a total, complete failure. Over the 2.5 year life of the ATF operation, those agents failed 100% of the time to obtain firearms after disclosing that they were prohibited purchasers.

It seems that law-abiding gun owners are indeed just that, law-abiding gun owners with a healthy respect for the law which of course makes them law-abiding in the first place.

Imagine the disappointment oozing from those sleazy, rights hating, Democrats who commissioned the study in the first place?

See, we all know that those socialists wanted to use the results they thought they would get, to facilitate more attacks on our gun rights. When they didn’t achieve their desired goal and real Americans proved them to be the liars and hypocrites they are (once again) they clammed up. Silence. They refused to comment to Fox News when asked. I’m not sure any lefty new soutfit even bothered to ask them about it. Unfortunately, but predictably, this story is being buried by the national mainstream press as it, yet again, exposes the failure and lies of their gun-hating narrative and leftist political agenda… but what about local media outlets?

Here in the metro Atlanta area, local affiliate CBS46 Chief Investigative Reporter, Jonathan Carlson picked it up. Here’s what he had to say:

“A covert operation by the federal government finds–buying illegal firearms on the dark web–is easier than first thought.

The new report–in the wake of a series of mass shootings–comes on the heels of a CBS46 probe, showcasing the problem in Atlanta.

With legitimate gun sellers unwilling to sell to prohibited buyers., those seeking automatic weapons are going dark, the government audit found.

It details a frightening ATF agent sting. The feds were able to purchase an AR5 and a fully automatic Uzi–anonymously on the dark web—no background check required.

The dark web, requiring special software, is an often hidden black market for everything from guns to sex and drugs. And its a new challenge for law enforcement to track the bad guys who are purchasing these weapons with the intent of not getting caught–and their intentions unknown.

Just last year CBS46 uncovered an Atlanta based gun-smuggling scheme that took place on the dark web. The indicted criminals—sending guns to countries with much stricter gun laws.

The feds–in their recent investigation found those buying weapons illegally and online usually pick up the goods in person, avoiding licensed sellers. Meaning authorities have no idea just how many folks have taken advantage of the loophole.

So far the feds have not stated a solution to solving this problem. So until then–the threat continues.”

Upon reading this, I about came unglued. No, I did come unglued and immediately wrote the “Investigative” reporter. This guy completely redirected the narrative to another anti-gun piece and, intentionally or not, ignored the real story. Here’s a portion of my email followed by his entire response.:

Jonathan,

Your CBS46 hit completely mischaracterizes the original story and steers focus in a completely different direction than the true findings of the GAO study, leaving uninformed Americans, well, still uninformed. This “study” was originally sought by vehemently anti-gun Democrats asking the GAO/ATF to “study” illegal purchases over the web, which they had hoped to be able to use to further their unAmerican, anti-gun rights, gun-control agenda. Over a period of 2.5 years, the ATF attempted to make 72 illegal purchases in legal online buying forums using sting tactics. After identifying themselves as “prohibited buyers” to the law-abiding sellers, they failed in EVERY case. Let me repeat that–They failed EVERY time. In ALL 72 attempts, they were denied by good, decent, law-abiding gun owners who were unwilling to break the law. I guess that part doesn’t work for them, or you, huh?

You on the other hand, focus your “investigation” on the TWO illegal purchases made on the “dark web” which is itself a Petrie dish of illegal activity where one can buy stolen personal ID information, drugs, guns, people, etc, or anything else criminals do in criminal forums. For you to ignore the true story here, which is that a handful of Democrat gun rights haters attempted to prove their gun-grabber agenda in a twisted “study” designed to make over 100 million law-abiding gun owners appear as criminals and failed miserably, is… well… sad but not unexpected by those of us who fight this bias every day for a living.

You owe millions of gun owners an apology for refocusing your story away from the fact that the real story is Democrat gun-haters failed miserably, again, to link law-abiding gun owners to the criminal misuse of firearms in their sick and ongoing attempt to deprive Americans of their Second Amendment rights.

I told him I was going to take the story and his ridiculous redirection of it to the airwaves on yesterday’s Armed American Radio Daily Defense radio program.

The CBS46 reporter, Jonathan Carlson, responded less than 15 minutes before I went live on-air. Here’s his response, in its entirety::

The premise of the story—which was fairly clear—is how the dark web is allowing unlicensed gun buyers to get their hands on semi-automatic weapons without oversight, and the threat that poses. It has absolutely nothing to do with gun rights or gun control or anything of the such. Nor does it call out the “100 million law-abiding gun owners”, in any way.

I am not seeing the outrage here. The only folks that should take issue with our report, are illegal gun buyers on the dark web.

I always welcome passionate debate. Thanks for the note.

Does he fail to see the outrage? Of course, he does. His failure to “see the outrage” is precisely why law-abiding American gun owners have had it with the mainstream press and bogus, biased reporting. He, as so many others do, approaches any reporting on firearms and gun owners from the perspective of the anti-gun crowd that would never provide readers or viewers a favorable view of gun owners.

His redirection of the story (intentional or not) right back to criminals and guns reinforces to an already uninformed (ignorant) audience that guns and gun owners are evil, period. To completely ignore the real story, that a group of Democrat lawmakers tried unsuccessfully (with taxpayer dollars) to use a covert ATF operation against law-abiding Americans to push a leftist gun-control agenda, undermine our constitutional rights and failed miserably in the process, is precisely why Americans distrust his profession.

Keep it up. We’re watching, we DO see the outrage, and we will call you out on it, every, damn, time.

About Mark Walters

Mark Walters is the host of two nationally syndicated radio broadcasts, Armed American Radio and Armed American Radio’s Daily Defense with Mark Walters. He is the Second Amendment Foundations 2015 Gun Rights Defender of the Year award recipient and co-author of two books, Lessons from Armed America with Kathy Jackson (Whitefeather Press) and Lessons from UnArmed America with Rob Pincus (Whitefeather Press)

This post Garbage Reporting In, Garbage Reporting Out – Lawful Gun Owners Get the Shaft appeared first on AmmoLand.com .