23 December 2008

Has Anyone Else Noticed The Jargon Change?

Has anyone else noticed that the news media of late is misusing (as usual) the anti-gun reference to competition rifles?

Forever, they were called "assault weapons." Since the sunset of the ineffective Brady ban on competition rifles, the anti's have gotten little traction with the usual anti-gun politicians in their continuing quest to demonize SBRs.

But now, suddenly, on the rare occasion when a competition rifle is found or confiscated, it is being referred to as "an assault rifle." Which everyone knows is a full-out machine gun. And thinking people know that LEOs are not pulling machine guns off the streets every time they turn around. But someone is telling the media that "assault rifles" are being confiscated, when what they mean to say is semi-auto rifles (a phrase almost never used by police or the anti self defense crowd).

So what's up here? A deliberate change in tactic with reference to nomenclature? In order to scare a public that doesn't know the difference between your grandad's semi-automatic hunting rifle and a competition rifle?

Here's a lesson to those who do not know the difference -- there isn't any.

For example, here is a story out of Mexico from today. Another from Akron, Ohio earlier this week. Still another from Youngstown, Ohio. More on this in the days to come. I am going to start compiling references to "assault rifle" in media stories when they mean competition rifle. Trust me. I watch this stuff, and until now the herd/flocking mentality of most news media has been to follow that which they have been taught -- to use the phrase "assault weapon."

Either its coming from the anti's . . . or worse, LEOs who should know better. If you have an instance of this in your community, drop me a line with the details, the date the story appeared, and a link if you can get it.

Thanks in advance


3 comments:

BobG said...

"Either its coming from the anti's . . . or worse, LEOs who should know better."

A lot of journalists are anti-gun, or completely ignorant and have no idea what it means. I don't know how many times I've read the phrase "semiautomatic revolver" in a news story.

"If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed."
-Mark Twain

Brent Greer said...

Bob, I agree that the MSM generally is anti-gun. No one knows that better than I, a recovering journalist. What is interesting is the sea-change in jargon popping up in stories all across the country. Its as if they have all been handed a new playbook to work out of. You know, "new ways" to refer to SBRs. If you see any stories along these lines in your travels, where suddenly the jargon used is "assault rifle" when forever they have been writing "assault weapon," please pass it on to me. Merry Christmas!

Brent Greer said...
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