What the hell’s happened to the Associated Press? The news service was once the model of journalistic propriety and restraint, inverted pyramid and all. These days they’re sounding more like, well, a blog. Case in point: PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama yet to Act on Gun Safety. You’re kidding, right? An all-caps upbraid of the President of the United States for NOT infringing on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms? As you’d expect from the header, the AP’s diet-tribe [sic] reads like a press release from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Legal Gun Owners from Being Left Alone. The rest of the “story” pretty much writes itself. Even so I’d like to point out one important nay transcendent error . . .
Outspoken earlier in his political career in favor of tougher gun measures, he’s treaded carefully since becoming president, almost never raising the topic except when asked and offering, at most, tepid support for legislation he once embraced, such as re-enacting a ban on assault weapons.
As far as I can tell there’s no such word as “treaded.” It’s “trod.” Back in the day, the AP had a verb conjugation specialist on staff. Now, Erica Werner’s mangling of the English language gets reprinted over a thousand times without ONE editor catching the gaffe.
With that in mind, do we really trust that Ms. Wener isn’t simply making shit up? We do not.
A government official involved in the talks [held months ago] said that suggestions under consideration include ways to improve the background check system dealers use to avoid selling guns to criminals, which activists say is ineffective and riddled with loopholes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.
Would it be impolite for me to suggest that this entire story—including the non-quote above—is a plant from the aforementioned Brady Campaign? It might be (impolite), but that’s the way I’m going here . . .
“We’re coming on the six-month mark since the shooting and still nothing from the administration,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign. “It’s time for some action.”
Action like . . . getting a national journo to pimp for you. Thankfully, Ms. Werner feels obliged to throw in a quote from the NSSF telling the gun grabbers to fuck off and die. And then points out, wistfully . . .
With that kind of opposition from gun-rights groups, an election year approaching and attention focused on the economy, prospects for congressional action are dim. And the Obama administration, in turn, appears unlikely even to try to do anything more than make modest changes that don’t fundamentally alter the nation’s gun policies.
And that’s a problem because . . . ? And here’s the kicker:
EDITOR’S NOTE _ An occasional look at government promises and how well they are kept.
German translation, or just another death rattle from the media gatekeepers who helped usher in the gun control years, and wishes they’d come back. With a vengeance.