Transcript
BOB GARFIELD: And I'm Bob Garfield, with a few of your letters. John Solomon's report on guns and the media prompted a huge response from listeners. Jeff Hinson of Columbia, Maryland writes: "I'm an avid outdoorsman, trapped in the urban world. John Solomon got it right. It's the first time in my life that I actually listened to a reporter telling a story about guns and gun owners that didn't offend me. Please pass my compliments on to Mr. Solomon and tell him he's welcome in my tree stand, duck blind, trap house or hunting camp any time."
BROOKE GLADSTONE: NRA life member Robert Chiles from Dallas, Texas writes that the report was, (quote) "the best explanation of the issue I have heard in the last four decades. Too often, journalists unknowingly display their lack of knowledge regarding firearms merely by the nomenclature they use. If a reporter lacks the desire or motivation to do even the most rudimentary research on the subject, is it any surprise that firearm owners perceive them as, at best, slipshod and hackneyed, if not outright biased? Although the average person might think it trivial to expect reporters to distinguish between such mechanisms as semi and fully automatic firearms, the difference can be substantial when it relates to the legislative and criminal justice systems. Sometimes the difference is as much as ten years in a federal penitentiary."
BOB GARFIELD: Pat Majursky of Chicago, Illinois was glad our report dispelled some of the stereotypes about gun owners but notes that stereotypes about gun control advocates must also disappear. (Quote) "It would serve the debate if your reporter would accompany a hunting enthusiast to a community that has been ravaged by gun violence so that the enthusiast can see that the gun control advocates do not have hunters in mind when they plead for gun legislation, but safety. In the past week, no less than 13 senseless deaths by gun violence have been at the top of the national news. It is critically important for the media to address the concerns of both sides of this debate honestly and stop feeding the dangerous stereotypes that prevent a sensible debate on gun control in the United States."
BROOKE GLADSTONE: "I'm sorry," writes Melissa Blackwell of California, "but I'm not sympathetic at all to gun owners. It may be fun to go and shoot clay ducks, as your reporter did, but that's a far cry from shooting an innocent animal out of the sky. Would we condone that if you replaced the animal with your beloved dog Fido or cat Boots? I think not."
BOB GARFIELD: Thanks to all who wrote. Keep those emails coming to onthemedia@wnyc.org, and don't forget to tell us where you live and how to pronounce your name. [MUSIC]
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