So I was watching Dateline NBC "To Catch a Predator" last Friday night. One of the pedophiles was a marine sniper. So, OK, the guy got arrested, as he should. That part makes perfect sense.
My issue was this... The guy stated in his chats with the teen girl that he brings his shotgun everywhere with him. The commentator went on and on in tones that implied that somehow his gun ownership made him a bad person or more of a low-life or danger to society. Then the police raided his SUV, and in the back was a 12-gauge defense shotgun with vertical foregrip--unloaded in the back of his SUV with a cable lock securely fastened through the chamber. They kept showing the cops taking that gun out of the back of his car as though somehow that made him more dangerous than the other pedophiles.
I agree that he's a dirt ball who belongs in jail, but he clearly was a very responsible gun owner. His gun was legally owned and legally stored in his truck with a lock on and unloaded. I fail to see how his firearm possession has any bearing on his other actions. He didn't commit any crimes with the gun. He simply owned it, and NBC made it sound like that was a crime in an of itself.
Anyone else see that and get annoyed? Firearms had NOTHING to do with the show or with his crime, but yet NBC used it as an opportunity to take a stab at gun owners.
My issue was this... The guy stated in his chats with the teen girl that he brings his shotgun everywhere with him. The commentator went on and on in tones that implied that somehow his gun ownership made him a bad person or more of a low-life or danger to society. Then the police raided his SUV, and in the back was a 12-gauge defense shotgun with vertical foregrip--unloaded in the back of his SUV with a cable lock securely fastened through the chamber. They kept showing the cops taking that gun out of the back of his car as though somehow that made him more dangerous than the other pedophiles.
I agree that he's a dirt ball who belongs in jail, but he clearly was a very responsible gun owner. His gun was legally owned and legally stored in his truck with a lock on and unloaded. I fail to see how his firearm possession has any bearing on his other actions. He didn't commit any crimes with the gun. He simply owned it, and NBC made it sound like that was a crime in an of itself.
Anyone else see that and get annoyed? Firearms had NOTHING to do with the show or with his crime, but yet NBC used it as an opportunity to take a stab at gun owners.