[Mark D]

Rock their world...

The Seattle news directorates have been in hype mode about an idiot teenager that brought a partially loaded Cobray M-11 to school. The articles (links below) are so error filled, they border on fantasy. The appropriate editorial e-mails have been provided as well.

Machine Gun Seized At School
http://www.kirotv.com/news/2223613/detail.html e-mail: seanews@kirotv.com

Make sure you reference the story headline and the URL


Student brings assault weapon to high school
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/134797132_schoolgun23m0.html
e-mails: iith@seattletimes.com and kervin@seattletimes.com

Once again, make sure you reference the story headline and the URL

Vote early and vote often. Let them know the error of their ways.

[rock jock]

I don't see any intent to deceive in these articles, just ignorance of the facts. And in this case, details of the gun weren't as important as the story itself. We are offended because we see obvious errors, but the reporter is only going by what they are told, most likely by the police who in this case don't seem to know anymore about guns than the reporter.

[Mark D]

I disagree.

Regardless of the "intent", the story is biased to scaring the sheep. Given the current battle surrounding the renewal of the 94 AWB, any story that can be hyped is being hyped. This is not an innocent oversight on the part of the press. As an establishment, the media wants you and I to be disarmed. Stories like this one serve their cause by conditioning the public to think, "My children are in danger because machineguns are evywhere." This fuels the anti's engines.

Rather than state the facts, "A 17 year old student brought a gun to school today. He was suspended and handed over to the police for further investigation." The story was spun into, "A student brought a machinegun to school, thankfully nobody was killed."

There is a clear difference between reporting the facts and twisting them to suit a cause.

We must confront inaccuracies and sensationalism whenever it rears it's ugly head. Your soon to be, "privledge", to own guns depends on it.

[spacemanspiff]

was it a mac-10 or mac-11? the mac-11 is a .380, correct? and the mac-10 is a 9mm, or am i mistaken?

how is it "partially" loaded?

the mac-11 from the factory is semi-auto, right? so unless it was modified for full-auto, it really isnt a 'machinegun' is it?

[Standing Wolf]

"He was an OK kid," said Beets, who said he found the pistol in the student's backpack after the student was sent to the office with alcohol on his breath.

Doesn't sound like an okay kid to me.

[braindead0]

Mac-10 is .45, Mac-11 9mm.. not even sure if Cobray has a .45 (haven't looked lately)..

I'd love to get a hold of one of thier 9mm carbines....

[Drjones]

The student said he was carrying the gun for his own protection. :D :D :D

Kid must have some pretty scary enemies to carry a Mac-10!!! :D :D

[TarpleyG]

how is it "partially" loaded?
Stovepipe, maybe...

GT

[45R]

How is it partially loaded?

The gun was described as a black Cobray brand Mac-10, which is a 9 mm semiautomatic assault pistol. It had an extended clip capable of holding 32 rounds and contained about two dozen bullets, police said.



:scrutiny:

[Waitone]

Once again we see how our friends in the media are paid to get it first.

I would prefer they get paid to get it right, first.

Fact checking takes time, something you don't do if you are paid to get it first.

If the article contains errors of fact on easily verified information, how may other errors, mistakes, and lies does the article contain.

[TarpleyG]

45R,

Wrong answer! All guns are always loaded. Not partially, not empty.

GT

[TheOtherOne]

"He was an OK kid," said Beets, who said he found the pistol in the student's backpack after the student was sent to the office with alcohol on his breath.Doesn't sound like an okay kid to me.
Yeah... If someone had just tried to kill me in a drive by, I would have made sure that a gun was even more accessible to me than my backpack.

Then again most people that get shot at in drive-by's aren't your most upstanding citizens, but you never know the circumstances.

[keyhole]

TarpleyG


Correct! Guns can be either loaded or unloaded, but magazines can be partially loaded;)

[atek3]

what a crap situation. what would you do if you had a run in w/ a 'banger who said something like, "I gunna kills you bitch", and wasn't joking around. Obviously a mac-10 in the ole backpack wouldn't be the smartest idea, but what would?

atek3

[jmbg29]

We are offended because we see obvious errors, but the reporter is only going by what they are told, most likely by the police who in this case don't seem to know anymore about guns than the reporter.That isn't the case here. The local KOMO News 4 accidently played the tape of King County Sheriff David Reichert (really nice very conservative guy BTW) describing the pistol for what it is "a semi-automatic".

The urinalists, to the last he/she/it, purposely decided to describe it otherwise. No surprise there, as I have never seen a single factual story in either of the local Seattle papers (there are two) that involved reporting on firearms.

The only good news is that one of the papers is only a couple more months from total bankruptcy.

[Minute_Of_Torso]

Less than five minutes after the talking head said "machine gun" I was, like any good internet geek, registering my displeasure with KIRO 7's news director.

Doubt it will do any good, though, never has before . . . at least I keep tryin'.

[Lord Grey Boots]

Latest word is that the kid is a hard core gang member. He has been expelled from the school.

[Waitone]

Ain't interesting little insignificant details like gang membership don't make it to the first reports. Follow-on reports sometimes pick up the detail, but first reports seldom specify social affiliations.

[Phil in Seattle]

Many of us have been hammering on the media for the usage of the term machine-gun.

I started making calls as soon as I heard the first report on the radio, I continued with calls and emails when the story hit the evening news, and the following day when the story made the paper.

They've consistently called this gun everything you can possible think of except the right term, a handgun. It's such a blatant misuse at this point that it must be intentional. I see now that some of the online news stories on this have backed away from machinegun and now it's ONLY an assaulty weapon or assault pistol.

The kid is indeed a gang member; identified as part of the Oriental Fantasy Boys or something like that.

A follow on news story reported that he didn't attend his court hearing.