This past weekend bore witness to three merciless attacks of gun violence occurring in different American communities, which were outrageously linked by the mainstream media to the recent Supreme Court decisions regarding bump-stock bans, despite no evidence backing any connection between the events.
In the wake of these outrages, mass shootings took place at a water-park site in Michigan, a Juneteenth celebration in Texas and a random gathering in Massachusetts. NBC journalist, Erin McLaughlin quickly seized the opportunity on Monday, implying that the Supreme Court’s decision to scrap the Trump-era bump stock ban lead directly to these brutalities. Yet, intriguingly, not one of these distressing incidents reportedly involved the use of bump stocks.
We then begin to examine the facts at hand, looking at the distinct situations as mentioned by McLaughlin. In Rochester Hills, Michigan, a male suspect was reported to have viciously aimed 28 shots at an aquatic playground, wounding nine innocent individuals, among them children. Then we take a look at Round Rock, Texas, where authorities are on the manhunt for an attacker who wiped out two lives and injured multitudes at a Juneteenth celebration. A wild party in Methuen, Massachusetts, was tarnished when gunfire injured eight partygoers, some critically.
McLaughlin hastily assigned blame to the Supreme Court’s verdict to overrule the bump stock ban, stating vaguely, “The weekend shootings come just days after the Supreme Court struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks.” What she cleverly omitted in her account is clear: no connection exists between the bump stock ban’s exclusion and these vicious attacks. While the type of firearms used in the violence in Round Rock and Methuen are currently unknown, the motley Michigan incident involved the use of a handgun, which simply cannot accommodate a bump stock.
The fuzzy relationship between the weekend incidents and bump stocks was only vaguely addressed by McLaughlin towards the end of her report. She slipped in trailing reservations, saying, “The shootings from over the weekend did not involve bump stocks…” before posing a doomsday hypothesis that things could’ve been worse if bump stocks were involved. A seemingly irresponsible implication to make, all things considered.
Furthermore, McLaughlin glibly painted this grim portrait of gun violence across the United States by stating that 225 mass shootings have occurred, leaning on data from the distinctly liberal Gun Violence Archive, without scrutiny or further verification.
In stark contrast, other major networks, such as ABC and CBS, chose not to frame the incidents the same way, or to make unverified connections or implications. In fact, on Good Morning America, Pierre Thomas, the chief justice correspondent, declared the significant reductions this year in the number of both individual shooting incidents and mass shootings.
In conclusion, the sensationalist attempts to link these awful crimes with unrelated legal decisions lack both critical evidence and nuanced reporting. Responsible journalism should consist of reporting the facts and not weaving a narrative that suits a biased agenda.
