At 7:55 am on Tuesday March 20th a 17 year-old boy walked into the Great Mills High School in Lexington Park, Maryland and opened fire with a handgun. A male student and a female student were immediately shot. School Resource Officer (SRO) Blaine Gaskill responded in less than a minute firing at the shooter and ending the incident.
I chose to write about this incident since an SRO intervened immediately likely saving numerous innocent lives thus demonstrating the value of having armed individuals protecting schools. As I searched for information just one day later there was almost no mention of the Maryland incident anywhere in the Main Stream Media (MSM).
Some may argue as to why this would be, but most understand that this incident does not align with the MSM anti-gun agenda and is therefore not reported. Its difficult to ridicule “only a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun” when that’s exactly what happened.
Typically when there is a school shooting in this country the MSM immediately erupts into a circus atmosphere sensationalizing the event 24/7 and turning the murderer into an overnight rock star. The usual anti-gun fanatics appear in droves calling for bans on guns, additional gun control laws, and further restrictions on the rights of law-abiding Americans. The MSM enthusiastically promotes this agenda.
The insanity of gun free zones is never mentioned. Nor is it ever mentioned that these murderers almost exclusively target gun free zones because the victims are defenseless and the body count can be maximized. Yes they do watch the media coverage of past shooters and yes they are aware of the numbers.
The MSM can’t bring itself to cover stories where a gun is used to save lives because it doesn’t fit the anti-gun narrative. As unfortunate as this is its only part of a bigger story.
It’s one thing to not cover stories due to bias but it’s quite another to intentionally promote misleading or completely false information. For example here is the CNN story covering the Great Mills HS shooting. The CNN coverage is reasonable but then they include the completely false “17 School Shootings since January” nonsense in the story.
The arrogance is such that CNN actually provides an interactive link to the “17 School Shootings” information including CNN’s own personal definition of a school shooting. The CNN definition is probably not what comes to mind for most Americans when they hear the words “school shooting”. If you follow the link you’ll find the following:
- 2 accidental discharges (non-injury)
- 2 accidental discharges (injury)
- 2 shootings in a University dorm room or apartment (1 student, 1 non-student victim)
- 2 shootings in apartments located near a school
- 1 shooting in a rec center near a University
- 2 shootings in a school parking lot (1 student robbery victim, 1 non-student victim)
- 1 shooting at a party near a University
- 1 shooting in a school parking lot after a large fight (32 y/o victim)
- 4 actual school shootings
The point being that CNN and other MSM outlets routinely and intentionally publish false or misleading information to promote an anti-gun agenda. What to do?
As gun owners we are primarily concerned with second amendment (2A) issues but in reality these same tactics are being employed by the same people to attack all the rights provided by the Constitution. The time of gun owners sitting on the sidelines shaking our heads in disbelief is past. We all need to become engaged in the fight to preserve our rights.
I used to say that you didn’t want to be “that guy” always bringing up 2A issues but I was wrong. Misleading and false information needs to be challenged whenever it appears. When allegedly knowledgeable people make ridiculous statements like “I will now shoot this AR15 in full semi-auto mode” those statements need to be challenged and corrected immediately by all of us that know better. Most people want to make good decisions they just need good information to work with.
Engage your friends and family members. Educate people. Don’t let your shooting buddies sit out the fight. All of us need to engage now or we risk losing all the rights we so cherish.
Realize that each time we allow false and misleading information to go unchallenged it will be used to further restrict our rights. If you want to keep your rights help defend them by joining San Diego County Gun Owners, the California Rifle and Pistol Association, and the National Rifle Association. Join the fight and help us restore and preserve our second amendment rights. Together we will win.
©2018 Joseph T Drammissi
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